Putting Down a Burden

Human World, U.S.A, Alaska.

"So, what do we do with this guy?" Dante asked while pointing rebellion at the eight-winged fallen angel.

"Oh, him?" James said while glancing at the remaining fallen angel. "He's Mizore's prey."

Hearing that, everyone looked at Mizore, then the group of yuki-onna behind James, and finally the fallen angel. Then, as if they had agreed on it beforehand, they nodded simultaneously.

"Now, Mizore." James said while placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I promised you, right? If you use what you have, you're definitely strong enough to take revenge yourself."

Mizore looked at the eight-winged fallen angel while James spoke. When she heard his words, her furious expression turned into one of a warrior. Although she was still furious from what this fallen angel put her and her people through, fury was no longer controlling her. Instead, the only thing influencing her actions were the countless hours of training she put herself through since the day James saved her. As Mizore took her stance, James spoke once more before the battle began.

"Hey, you." James said, drawing a forlorn look from the fallen angel. Then with a teasing smile, he continued. "If you manage to defeat her, you'll survive today. You won't get away, but at least you'll live."

Hearing that, the fallen angel shot a skeptical look in James' direction.

"But if she wins, I doubt there's a chance for that." James said with a devilish smile. "So, I'd suggest you give it all you got."

Meanwhile, among the group of yuki-onna, the woman being healed by Shuna, Mizore's mother, could not help but asked Shuna.

"Why is he encouraging that fallen angel?" Mizore's mother asked with a mix of confusion and anger.

"Shirayuki-san, please calm down." Shuna said with a reassuring smile. "If you could see his face, you would see that James-Sama is taunting the fallen angel. Giving him false hope, if you would. You'll see, Mizore-San is very strong."

"Has she truly grown so much" Mizore's mother asked with wonder in her tone.

Then, with everyone's attention on the two combatants, Mizore rushed toward her foe. At the same time, the fallen angel released his four pairs of black feathered wings and formed a spear of light that glowed in an eerie grey color. Once the spear was formed, he threw it at Mizore and repeated the process twice more.

As the spears flew toward Mizore, she noticed that if she dodged, the spears would land among the group of yuki-onna. Before she had time to worry, she heard James' voice behind her.

"Scatter, [Senbonzakura.]"

Then, shortly after Ochiru Sakura broke down, the petal-shaped blades formed a barrier between the battle and the group of yuki-onna.

"don't worry about their safety, Mizore." James said with confidence. "You can go all out, and I'll make sure no more yuki-onna come to harm because of this douchebag."

Being called a douchebag caused the fallen angel to twitch an eyebrow. However, he did not have the time to dwell on it. Instead, he had to prepare for close quarter combat with the smiling reincarnated devil who was charging toward him.

While the fallen angel was unhappy with James' statement, Mizore was ecstatic. Hearing that James would make sure her people remained safe, she was able to relax her tense nerves. Then, as she was unburdened, her demonic power was able to flow through her system more smoothly. Because of this, her speed increased. Then, Mizore created claws of ice to cover her hands and froze the floor of the large room instantaneously.

"*Whistle* Well, damn." Dante said with a whistle. "She's gonna break through soon."

"Makes sense." Cu Chulainn said with his spear, Gáe Bolg, resting on his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Lady asked curiously.

"Because there's nothing holding her back any longer, her body can finally put to good use all the energy that was spent on worrying in the past." Cu Chulainn explained patiently while keeping an eye on the battle.

At the same time, Mizore and the fallen angel were exchanging attacks, quickly. While dodging the fallen angel's light spears, Mizore would send projectiles made of ice when she was at a distance. And while using the ice on the floor to increase her speed, she would zip around the room, using her claws to inflict slash wounds at close range as she passed the fallen angel. And whenever the fallen angel took to the sky, Mizore began materializing large ice boulders above him.

"You damn snow woman!" the fallen angel roared in anger. "How could you have possibly become this strong?"

Without responding the now mentally unstable fallen angel, Mizore continued her methodical attack and defense. Slowly, her opponent was covered in many wounds of varying sizes. Eventually, due to blood loss, he was too slow to avoid an incoming fatal strike. A moment later, Mizore found more than half of her arm impaled into the fallen angel before her. Held in the hand jutting out from his back was a bleeding heart.

"Damn...*Cough* How could a lowly reincarnated devil defeat me." the fallen angel said while coughing blood.

"That doesn't matter anymore." Mizore said calmly. "You won't be hurting any more yuki-onna, ever again."

Then, Mizore pulled her arm from the fallen angel's chest while crushing his heart in the process. After that she turned away and began to walk calmly toward James. After Mizore took a few steps away from the still standing corpse, slender ice spikes shot out from all over the body.

"Badass!!!" Dante shouted excitedly.

Not paying Dante any mind, the rest of the group made their way to James.

"You did a great job, Mizore." James said while patting her head.

Instead of replying, Mizore wrapped her arms around James' waist and buried her head in his chest. Smiling gently, James continued patting her head. After a few moments, James spoke.

"I'm not complaining about the hug, but I think there's someone you should be hugging more than me, right now." James said with a smile.

Hearing that, Mizore raised her head. When she did, she saw that James was looking at something. Following his line of sight, Mizore saw her mother, now mostly healed from her injuries. Seeing her mother's condition, Mizore began to cry even harder. Then, with her vision blurred with tears, she took shaky steps toward her mother.

"Kaa-San..." Mizore mumbled as she drew closer to her mother.

"Mizore-Chan." Said Mizore's mother as her eyes were also overflowing with tears.

Eventually, the two yuki-onna hugged. When they did, tears of joy were shed. Then, the other yuki-onna joined, turning the hug between mother and daughter into a group hug. Meanwhile, James discussed with the rest of his peerage.

"I'm so glad we got here before it was too late. Moka said with her eyes beginning to water.

"Yeah, even though I'm still not happy with the risk Dante took infiltrating alone, I'm grateful for it." James said while glancing at Dante.

"Hmph." Dante only snorted in return while turning his head away from James' grateful gaze.

"Damn that's disgusting." Cu Chulainn said with a frown. "Tsundere men are not cute, they give me the chills."

In response to Cu Chulainn's statement, everyone nodded simultaneously.

"The Tsundere Son of Sparda really is an apt nickname." Shuna said in understanding.

Shion nodded along to Shuna's words. Meanwhile, Dante was visibly getting angrier at being referred to as a "tsundere."

"Damn you all!" Dante shouted angrily, which caused them all to burst into laughter. Once the laughter died down, Dante spoke once again. "We'll see if I do anything to help any of you out in the future."

"Oh?" James exclaimed with a smile on his face. "Since you were doing this just to help Mizore, I'll be holding on to the money for this raid. I'm expecting a refund for the mission to search for this location as well."

Hearing that, Dante paled rapidly.

"Now, now, now! James, let's not say or do anything we might regret in the future." Dante said with the ugliest smile any of them had ever seen.

"Dante, do you really think I'll regret this in the slightest?" James said with a friendly smile. "Besides, I'm not sure but it sounds like you're threatening me."

Once again, James' peerage, minus Mizore, smiled at the misfortune that was about to befall Dante. Dante, on the other hand, was sweating nervously. Then, James spoke again.

"So, how close to paid off is the debt for the shop's repairs from two years ago?" James asked with a smile. "I think I'll have to ask Mom about it when we get back."

"James, old buddy, old pal, you know I was only joking about not helping any of you in the future, right?" Dante said as he closed in at high speed and threw an arm around James' shoulders. "And of course, I wouldn't charge for helping Mizore find her family."

Nodding his head, James smiled.

"Of course, I knew that." James said. "So, I'll be expecting that refund once we're back in Kuoh."

Knowing that was the best he would get after his slip of the tongue, Dante exhaled a sigh and nodded. Shortly after that, Mizore and the rest of the yuki-onna approached the group of young adult devils. When they came close, Mizore spoke with a beautiful smile on her face.

"Everyone, let me introduce you to my mother, Shirayuki Tsurara." Mizore said while holding her mother's hand. "And mom let me introduce you to James and his peerage."

Then, Mizore proceeded to introduce Tsurara to the members of James' peerage, starting with her best friend, Moka. Then, once all the members were introduced by name and position, Mizore finally introduced James.

"And last but certainly not least, this is our [King] James Alaverus." Mizore said as she released her mother's hand and rushed over to James' side. After wrapping her arms around James left arm, Mizore continued. "And the man I love and hope to spend the rest of my life with."

Hearing that, all the yuki-onna's eyes opened widely. Except for Tsurara's, that is. Instead of opening wide, her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized James from top to bottom.

"Not bad. Not bad at all." Tsurara said while licking her lips. "He looks like great husband material."

Feeling something seemed to be wrong, James was the first to speak.

"You know as shameless as I might be, if you stare so intensely, even I'll blush." James said, trying to change the atmosphere.

"Oh, has Mizore-Chan never told you about yuki-onna culture?" Tsurara asked with a smile.

"She told me that yuki-onna are mono-gendered and they usually... OH shit." James said as he realized what was going on.

As a matter of fact, the yuki-onna tribe tend to share their men. If they find a man with good enough genes, that man could become a communal husband to the entire tribe. That may sound like a man's dream; however, most men do not survive long enough to enjoy it. Due to the cold and the number of women to satisfy, most men, usually normal humans, that the yuki-onna encounter die from exhaustion after a few days.

Seeing the panic on James' face, Tsurara finally dropped the act. Even though she would have gone through with it if James were willing. Without showing her disappointment and thinking about talking to her daughter about getting a chance, Tsurara laughed and spoke once again.

"I was just kidding." Tsurara said with a smile. "I just wanted to see the look on your face when you realized what I was implying."

Shooting a glare at Mizore after seeing the teasing smile on her face that matched Tsurara's, James put on a smile before speaking once again.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're all fine after what you've been through." James said as he shot a grateful glance at Shuna, who bowed politely. "Now, we'll be relocating you to Kyoto so Lady Yasaka can place your tribe somewhere safe. Hopefully, you'll be able to expand once again..."

"Are you offering your assistance?" Tsurara asked, interrupting James with her eyes sparkling.

Seeing James caught off guard that badly, his peerage tried with all their might to hold in their laughter. The exception being Dante, who laughed uproariously.

"*Cough!* *Cough!*" James coughed violently. Then, with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, he redirected the yuki-onna's attention to one of his companions. "I'll have to talk it over with my other women before I can give you an answer. However, I think Dante, the son of Sparda, would be a great choice to help in the repopulation efforts."

With James' suggestion, all the yuki-onna with the exception of Tsurara turned their heads toward Dante. Noticing this, Dante was shocked, then he shot a glare at James. After that, he hid behind Lady, who rolled her eyes at his actions without trying to make things worse.

Snickering internally at the dilemma Dante had just found himself in, in large part to himself, James decided now was a good time to leave.

"Dante, Lady, Ayame, Look around the facility. Find as much evidence of these Crows' crimes as you can, then head back home." James said, beginning to give orders to his peerage. "Lancer, Moka, Shion, take these crows into custody and contact the Underworld. They're gonna give us shit for this operation but I'll talk to them when they do. Mizore, Flora, Shuna, make sure all the yuki-onna are healthy enough to be moved via teleportation. Alright, let's go. I'm ready to get the hell outta here."