Chapter 32: Shadowy Lands

Disclaimer: So it's obvious what I'm going to say here but let's be honest, if I say "I own Highschool DxD" will any copyright people really come knocking on my door? I highly doubt that…well I'm paranoid as fuck so I'm going to say I don't own Highschool DxD and just claim the OCs. They'll never catch me slipping!

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner Speech – 'Neat'

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – "Jumon"

Three Months Later, Mukō

In the far land of the setting sun, laid a small town that was established less than a decade ago. It was called Mukō Town and it had quite the interesting history. Once the capital of Japan from 784 to 794 by orders of the Emperor at the time, it was soon abandoned because of flooding and superstition. In recent years, a road called the Saigoku Kaido was created and the small town started to flourish because it was connected to the current capital, Kyoto and the Settsu Province. Many Japanese citizens walked through the town, stopping at many stores and street vendors along the way. There was an influx of them since the road's completion and the town's activity skyrocketed. And in this small town, laid a large palace. The former residence of the Emperor, it was now condemned and no one resided there.

Or that's what most people thought anyway. If one were to look within this abandoned palace, they would find the entire place completely clean and untouched by dust or debris. A Torii was placed in the yard of the former Emperor and this traditional Japanese gate was exactly that. A gate. A gate to the land of the noble and ancient Yokai clan, the Shadow Leopards. Now many would think that from their names, their land would be dark or dreary but the land of the Shadow Leopards was actually quite beautiful. While the sun was usually covered in clouds during the day, probably by their designs, the city's architecture of a high class noble family. Wooden houses with interconnected gardens, tall Pagoda's that cornered each end of the city and a castle that rested in the center. The castle was the home of the current leader of the Shadow Leopards and its Elders (though with the unification among them, any Shadow Yokai was allowed in if they had business with the higher ups).

And like any proper castle, there was a dungeon that housed criminals that were to be dealt with in due time.

"Hey! Hey! I know you can hear me! Let me out! I'm innocent I tell you! It was all the Demigod's fault, I swear!" Guess where I currently was. I held the handlebars of my cage, ignoring Aindrea's glare coming from behind me and tried to get the guard's attention. He didn't budge. "Fine, be that way but I want to see the warden! Show me the charges! I want my phone call!" I kept rattling the bars and the guard sighed.

"Please call down, I promise everything will be cleared up soon." The guard, who was named Aimoto, said.

"Lies! You say that to all the prisoners, don't you!? Well I won't fall for it, give me my phone call!" I didn't relent, continuing to annoy Aimoto.

"…For the last time, I don't know what that means!"

This continued for some time and eventually another guard came to relieve Aimoto of his duty. Taking a big sigh of relief, he gave the new guard a look of pity before running up the stairs. The new guard's face was a mask of confusion and he never noticed the sly smile I gave him (though he did slightly shiver, to his confusion).

"Can you knock it off already, I'm trying to sleep over here." I turned to Vargas' voice and saw him resting on a fluffy couch, Samantha lying next to him reading a book.

"Ah, but if I do that then who will bothe-I mean, talk to the guards? I don't want them to get lonely." I said with a sympathetic face and he deadpanned.

"I don't know what's worse, when you're purposely being annoying or when you're naturally an ass."

"That's a good question…let me get back to you on that." I turned to annoy the new guard but Adrian grabbed my shoulder.

"How about we spare the sanity of this guard and just relax for the time being, huh?"

"…Fine." I sighed and gave the guard a stink eye. "You and I aren't finished though. Mark my words."

"…What?" The guard had no idea what was going on. I walked away from the bars and took a seat next to Maven, looking around at our cell. Though it wasn't what I'd call a "cell". It looked like a traditional Japanese room; tatami mat flooring with a variety of furniture, sliding doors that led to a kitchen and bathroom respectively, and small lamps hanging from the ceiling. It was all very nice and if it wasn't for the bars, I definitely would recommend it to a friend (I probably still would actually).

'Now I'm really curious what happened while Melissa was here.' I laid back against the soft I was sitting on, thinking back on my Yokai girlfriend's decision to go back home and my choice to check up on her.

I still blame Aindrea...

Earlier Today, Elysian Fields

The last couple of months in the Greek Heaven was quite fruitful to say the least. Athena and Apollon weren't kidding when they said they'll pull out all the stops to increase our strength. Every day was spent working on our strengths and stressing them in multiple ways. Adrian, Vargas, Melissa, and Aindrea were given the same weight seals Athena puts on me (though theirs were slighter lighter) and they were continually increased throughout the training. Adrian and Vargas were taking lessons from Apollon in how to handle their respective powers and how to use them in a variety of ways. Athena trained Melissa, Aindrea and I in physical combat while Maven and Samantha were trained by Demeter. Demeter knew a large amount of elemental and protection spells, along with a couple of others that both magic based women would readily benefit from learning.

After morning lessons from the Olympians, the afternoon was spent sparing with the Greek Worshippers in the Elysian Fields. There were warriors from every part of the roman era and before, some existing since the Olympians beat the Titans and created Olympus. Many were good teachers and fixed any disparities we had in our fighting forms. I wasn't a Greek nut so I didn't recognize a lot of the Greek warriors but I was pleasantly surprised to meet historical icons like Aeneas and Hector. I was awed when I met the late Spartan King, Leonidas, and found him to be a pretty chill dude. Even though he was the king of Sparta in a time where religion was usually favored over science (mostly), he didn't have any supernatural abilities or owned magic weapons in life. I was physically better than him but more times than not, he could walk circles around me with his battle experience (though my stamina far outstripped his). My overall abilities have increased considerably in this time period. The first day of training, I asked Athena if it was finally time to learn some Senjutsu and she mercilessly shot me down. In my shock, I asked why and she answered with a question.

"What's the point of gaining more powers when you haven't mastered the ones you already have?" My Chi was very impressive, she would be the first one to admit that and it will only grow stronger in time. But that's exactly what it needs, time. There were no shortcuts or massive boosts in power from Chi, it was a gradual process. Sun Wukong, the most famous being to use Chi to its full potential, was also limited by this. Even with his natural talent and battle genius, it took the better part of a century to match the strength of the Gods. With how long-lived supernatural beings are, that was an incredibly short amount of time. It was also agreed by many factions that if Sun spent his youth training instead of goofing off and causing trouble, he would have matched the Gods long before that (Even when he did eventually reach the Gods, he still messed around and it took the Buddha putting him under a mountain for him to get his act together). Being involved in constant fights have made my Chi stronger but my body was still young and it could only increase at a certain pace.

My limited arsenal of Magic was another thing. Athena was honestly astounded that I was able to beat the beings I have with only three Strengthening Spells to my name. She also noticed that the Strengthening Spells I cast seem to boost my physical abilities far more than it would for a supernatural being like a Devil or a Demigod. She theorized that because I was human, I didn't have the natural resistance towards magic that most supernatural beings had. But that also worked in my favor; making Strengthening Spells more effective on me (my Touki also helps block magic spells anyway).

Then there were Dáinsleif and Tyrfing. Both of their original users were fairly powerful warriors that made a name for themselves in a chaotic era and it's not like they were the only ones. Beowulf, Sigurd and Θraētaona all owned Demon Swords and killed Dragons, something many Gods can't say they've done. Not to mention that I just gained both of them, I barely scratched the surface of all the things I could do with either swords. Sword Fury and Tyrfing's destructive aura combined spoke of the many possibilities. I had three different routes for power where many warriors of the past were blessed to have just one…Athena's smile when she pieced that together made me all the more attracted to her and scared the living hell out of me. I threw myself into learning new Strengthening Spells from that day on and training with the Demon Swords, making sure not to go overboard as to not be drained of life force even with my large reserves.

As it became easier to wield both Demon Swords with minimal strain and starting to learn 3rd Order Strengthening Spells, I also dipped a hand in Healing magic. Samantha was for the most part a good teacher, though she had trouble explaining how to guide the Mana in a healing spell through an injury (mainly since it comes naturally to her), I was still able to gain a 1st Order Healing Spell to my arsenal. It wasn't much but we all gotta start somewhere.

"I still don't get how you're so good at this." Athena said as she lay back on her inclined chair, sighing as my hands ran through her hair. The Goddess of Wisdom and I were in the middle of a meadow with a pond resting next to us. A small cabin with engravings on the woods was nearby. While the Olympians owned all of the Elysian Fields, this was Athena's personal abode. They gave us periodic breaks to relax from training and Athena sometimes brings me here to hang out. She chose to comb her hair in front of me once and I offered to do that for her. I must have done a great job because she made me her personal hair brusher since then.

'I guess I better add "personal hair brusher of the Goddess of Wisdom and War" to the list.' I thought with a chuckle and started to braid Athena's hair. "I have my mom's hair and she tended to mess with it whenever she could. She'd also force me to braid her hair." My sisters from my past life also used me as a guinea pig whenever doing hair styles. Athena hummed at that.

"She sounds like an interesting woman. I'd love to meet her."

"Sounds like a plan." I smiled at the thought and Athena sat up, admiring my finished work. She played with the braids for a bit before standing up and patting the chair. "…Hm?" I didn't get it.

"Sit down on the chair Pierce." Athena rolled her eyes and I gave a quick "oh" before sitting down with a sheepish grin (she never offered before so it took me a second to catch on). I felt the soft hands of the Goddess run through my hair and I closed my eyes as she ran a brush through it. A sense of calm ran through me, my body relaxing as I listened to the sound of the wind passing by the meadow and the warm sun hitting my face. My mind started to wander to recent events and a frown made its way on my face. "Is something the matter?" I heard Athena ask and I sighed.

"Just thinking about Melissa." I felt Athena's hands momentarily stop before resuming.

"You know, it's considered bad manners to think about a woman while in the presence of another." I looked at Athena and she had her brow raised.

"You asked." I deadpanned and she scuffed.

"Lie next time."

"…There's no winning with you guys is there."

"Nope." Athena gave a cheeky grin and I shook my head.

"Women…" I ignored the small tug from Athena and we settled back into silence. The reason I was thinking about Melissa was because she went back to her homeland to take care of something. She didn't specify what but I offered to go with her all the same, but she said it shouldn't take too long. I respected her decision, knowing I did something similar when choosing to go to the Underworld. But it's been a week since she messaged that she made it home and no word came after that. While everyone was a bit worried, Athena reasoned that the Shadow Leopard's ancestry makes it important to the Yokai faction and it won't be easily endangered.

"If you want to check on her then you should go." Athena offered and I looked up at her in confusion.

"But what about my training?"

"We'll still be here even if you leave for a couple of days. No one's forcing you to stay on Olympus Pierce, you've already fought enough for us. It's up to you if you want to keep going…though leaving when we put so much work into you guys would be mean." I blinked at Athena's joke and chuckled.

"Thanks Athena." She patted my head.

"Anytime." She walked away after that. I sat up and let out a breath. While a part of me wanted to respect Melissa's decision to go home by herself, another part reasoned that it was pretty suspicious there was no message after the first one when she got home. Besides, it's not like she wouldn't come looking for me if I didn't come back after a week in the Underworld (though I'll abstain from comparing her clan home to Hell, that won't end well for anybody). I stretched as I stood up and went to splash some pond water in my face. I gave a content sigh at the cold, refreshing water and stared at my reflection in the pond. I blinked at what I saw. In my deep thinking, I didn't pay attention to Athena's hands and her work.

"Athena!" I yelled and the soft giggling of the Goddess rang out, forcing me to chase after her.

For what it's worth…I looked pretty alright with pigtails.

I soon alerted everyone to my departure to Melissa's homeland. I said so during lunch and Maven asked a good question while eating a tuna sandwich.

"Do you know how to get there?"

"…" Everyone's deadpan expression made me blush pretty hard.

"Even if you did know how to get there, there's no guarantee that they'll let you in." Vargas added while drinking some tea but I was one step ahead of him.

"Even with this?" I lifted my arm and rolled down my sleeves, pouring Mana into my forearm. A yellow Taoist symbol appeared and Maven narrowed her eyes at it. She walked to me and traced a finger over the symbol.

"Where did you get this?" The mage asked with a pointed look.

"Amaterasu gave it to me after we stopped Shiruku from stealing the Orochi's body…I kind of forgot about it." I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment and Adrian leaned over to get a closer look.

"What is it?"

"A Shinto sigil of Honor. Beings that have done great services for the Shinto Gods are given them; a clan like the Shadow Leopards will definitely recognize this and most likely allow you entry." The Shinto Gods and the Yokai race as a whole have a pretty close history, meaning that someone honored by them will be treated with respect. Adrian nodded at information before standing up.

"Well the day's still young; we can head over now with plenty of time to spare." I blankly stared at the Emissary's smile. "We're all worried for Melissa, Pierce. What? You thought that we'll only come looking for you if you're gone for a long time?"

"…" Adrian just chuckled at the thumbs up I gave him in response. Everyone else soon finished eating their lunch and we made our way to the portal. Giving a quick hi to Thallo as we left the first gate, Maven teleported us to Mukō where they originally met Melissa. I quirked a brow when Adrian warned us about strange movements from all the Yokai clans in Japan and to be careful.

'Strange movements? What does that even mean? I wish he was less vague about these sort of things…or more punctual.' I shook my head at Adrian's information giving as the light from the teleportation slowly covered us. 'Oh well, it's probably not that important. We're just going to go check on her…' Light flooded my vision.

What could go wrong?

Back to the Present

'You'd think I would have learned by now.' I wistfully thought as I rested on the comfortable couch, Maven leaning on my shoulder while she fed Jade chocolate. The mage chuckled when the Moon Hare nibbled on her fingers and I turned to scowl at Aindrea. "Thanks by the way, spear crazy!"

"In what way is this my fault?" I scoffed at the Demigod's question.

"You just had to go and piss off that Elder didn't you?" Aindrea frowned at that.

"I didn't piss off any Elder."

"Really? Because I don't think that Yokai you were flirting with appreciated the attention." I said and it took a couple of seconds for Aindrea to understand before he paled.

"T-That was an Elder?" He grimaced at my nod. "Oh Zeus…"

"Oh, don't tell me you're one of those guys that care a lot about age." I mean, the Elder's aura showed she was even older then Athena or Apollon (though nowhere near as powerful) but she was still very attractive. "Age is just a number."

"Urghhh…" That did little to help the Demigod who realized he hit on a (really) great grandma and we all laughed at his plight. I thought of how we got to this point.

Everything was going alright; we appeared in the middle of Mukō and walked to the "abandoned" palace in the distance. Jumping over the high walls, we made for the Shinto Gate in the Emperor's yard and were met with a couple of Shadow Leopard sentinels. They asked us to leave but I showed them the mark and one of them recognized it. He spoke into his communication ring (probably for instructions) and after a second, asked us why we were here. Not wanting to draw attention to ourselves, we kept out the fact we were an Emissary team from Olympus and said we came to see a friend. I narrowed my eyes when they stiffened when we said Melissa and they asked for our names.

I became very on guard when I gave my name and they tried their hardest to keep a straight face. To be fair, their auras barely fluctuated and there was more curiosity than anything else in them. They activated the gate and we were allowed into the land of the Shadow Yokais. I was allowed a minute or two to marvel at the beautiful city before a group of guards with an Elder arrived to greet us. They gave us a polite greeting and asked us to come with them to the castle in the center.

And the reason why I blame Aindrea was because he was flirting with the Elder the whole time and slowly irritating her. She must have snapped because we were walking up a flight of stairs when Aindrea gave a cheesy pick up line and she abruptly turned around, saying she had a "better place in mind".

'She wasn't wrong, this place is pretty nice.' I took a plate of food the guards brought us, licking my lips at the tasty udon. Why were we so calm when we were essentially in a supernatural prison? Well for one…the food was damn good! 'If this is the food they give to prisoners, then I want to see the food they give to the leader.' I had to hold my bowl away when Jade tried to stick her head in.

But in all seriousness, there were multiple reasons why we haven't tried to bust out. For one, this was Melissa's home town and trying to bust out would entitle them to try and stop us. We didn't feel like messing up her home if we couldn't help it. Reason number two is that they've been relatively friendly towards us; I didn't feel any malice from the Yokais when they came to greet us and the guards watching us were in the same boat. They haven't tried to take away any of our stuff either, we still had our space rings with our weapons and they didn't ask for them.

And the most important reason, in Maven's opinion, was there weren't any containment spells in this cell. There was nothing to suppress our powers and even the bars weren't magically made, they were ordinary iron bars. I thought I just couldn't sense the spells within them and hit a bar with a Chi coated fist, sending it flying into the adjacent wall (I apologized to the surprised Aimoto who was watching).

All things considered, they haven't bothered restricting us in any meaningful way so we chose to stay put and see how things turn out. Half an hour quickly passed and I walked out of the bathroom, coming back to Samantha asking if they planned to execute us for some offence we did.

"Do you think that they'll go old school with a guillotine or a hanging? Ooohh, do you think we'll need to cut our stomachs to preserve our honor? That sounds nice!" We gave wry smiles at the honest look on the healer's face.

"That's only for Samurai's, Samantha. It wouldn't make sense for us to do it." Maven explained.

"That's the problem you have with what she said?" I asked rhetorically and the mage stuck her tongue out at me. We kept messing around until Aimoto came back and unlocked the bars. He asked us to follow him and when we all got out, lifted a pair of handcuffs towards me. "Are you serious?" I deadpanned.

"I'm sorry, it's my orders." Aimoto's look reluctant as well and proceeded to place them on my wrists. I lifted the cuffs and noticed they were made from ordinary iron too, not a hint of magic within them.

"Hey wait, why am I the only one handcuffed?!" He made no moment to put handcuffs on the others and kept walking on. Grumbling, we followed the guard through a long corridor and I started to hear a commotion coming from the door we came to. A pair of guards opened the door and we saw what was on the other side. A white tile arena was in the middle of this small stadium-like building. The sun was high in the sky as a large group of people sat in the stands, I sensed they were all Shadow Yokais and the guards led us up the stairs to the stands.

"You go this way please." Well, not all of us. Aimoto pointed me in the direction of the arena and everyone frowned at that, Vargas moving to step forward. I lifted a hand to stop him and stared at the guard.

"Why?" I asked with a stern voice and narrowed my eyes when he said it was the Head Elder's orders. 'I'm starting to think it wasn't entirely Aindrea's fault we were put in that cell.' I looked to the others.

"I'll be right back." They all nodded in return, keeping their weapons in hand as I turned around and walked to the arena. The Yokai's in the stands continued talking as I walked up the steps and stood in the middle of the arena. I looked around for something to happen and not a minute later, a group of people arrived. These people all looked high class, wearing expensive jewelry and tasteful Kimonos. Leading this group of people were two men, one old and middle aged respectively. The middle aged man was tall, had black hair, golden eyes and a handsome face. He was decently built. I observed the old man next to him and one thought came to mind.

'I wonder if he calls the kids who play on his lawn whippersnappers.' The old man was miserly looking, having white hair with streaks of black, gold eyes and an eternal frown. I couldn't sense his Chi to affirm his age but he walked with a perfectly straight back and firm steps. They walked to the top of the stadium, standing on this podium where they could be seen by everyone. The people quieted down as the old man stepped forward and cleared his voice.

"Welcome, fellow brothers and sisters of the Shadows." The old man's voice was crystal clear, vibrating across the small stadium. "Forgive me for gathering you all here for I know you all have many preparations to complete in the coming days but this could not have waited. We must figure out what to do with this…malefactor." His voice got angry at this point and murmuring started to spread. He turned to look in my direction. "Step forward, accused."

"…" I looked behind me to see who he was talking to but I saw no one. "…Oh you are not talking about me."

"Step forward." The old man commanded.

"How about we meet in the middle and you take a step forward first. Cool?" I offered but he just continued to frown. "And speaking of being accused, I think you got the wrong guy. I haven't done anything."

"Oh? So you haven't done any of these charges made against you?" The old man quickly took out a sheet of paper that was quite long and read the first one at the top. "Have you not trespassed on our lands without consent?" I frowned at that.

"Now hold on, those guards let me in-"

"Or did you not show disrespect to a founding Elder?"

"That wasn't me! That was Ain-"

"Or endanger the life of a noble Shadow Leopard and keep her from her home!?"

"Will you just let me talk for a min-" I stopped at the last one, finding it oddly familiar. "Wait, do you mean Melissa?"

"Ah ha! So you finally admit to your crimes!" The old man exclaimed in righteousness and continued reading from the list. "Inappropriate pre-marital liaisons, illegal capture of our clan techniques, aggressive involvement with another faction. The list goes on! Such blatant disrespect towards our way of life and practices cannot go unpunished! What say you all!?" The old man riled up the crowd and they ate into it, leaving everyone gaping at the scene in complete stupor. "Then it's agreed, you shall face punishment for your wrong doings accuser in a Trial of Combat! Let the challenger step forward!" The crowd roared in excitement, though probably more for the fact a fight will happen than for "justice", and I raised a hand.

"Um, can I ask a question?" The old man turned his frowning face back to me.

"Make it quick."

"Well, it's actually two but my first one is who the hell are you?" I asked the question I've been having for a while and the old man stood straighter.

"I am the son of our progenitor and the Head Elder, Fusao."

"He's also Melissa's incredibly overprotective Grandfather." The middle aged man from earlier spoke. He jumped from the podium and landed on the arena. His words earned him a glare from Fusao and he gave me a nod. "Hello, I'm Melissa's uncle Asao. Sorry about this but it'll all be explained soon enough." His assurance didn't register as I pieced together the puzzle and turned back to Fusao.

"So you're telling me…the reason I'm standing here, on probably the most rigged trial in the history of ever…is because I slept with your granddaughter?" I asked in shock and blinked when Fusao's eyes widened before they hardened. The silence was deafening. "…You didn't know that did yo-"

"BEGIN!" Fusao's face looked ready to burst and the crowd cheered, a see through barrier rising around the arena. I glanced over to the others, they're blank faces showing they found this stupid as well, and I sighed at Asao.

"How did this guy become Head Elder?"

"Dumb luck." Melissa's uncle sighed as well, probably not expecting his day to go like this. Manipulating his shadow, a whip made of shadows appeared in his hand and he slashed in my direction. I didn't react as it sliced my cuffs in two. "It would not do for you to be handicapped."

"At least someone here is honorable." I hypocritically said, being the last person that should talk about honor. I stared at barrier and spoke. "So do we really have to fight or-?" Asao's fist flying at my face answered my question. I leaned back to dodge the attack, lifting my arm to block his follow up and pushed him back with a palm. He didn't sit still and lunged at me again, sending a flurry of punches and kicks. I weaved through his barrage, blocking when I couldn't dodge and grabbed his leg. I flung him against the barrier and Chi Burst at him, slamming my fist into his chest. I was surprised when my fist went through, afraid that I had killed him but "Asao" dissolved into a mass of shadows. The shadows crawled up my arm and tried to squeeze down but a burst of Touki threw it off.

"So you can use Chi! I thought that they were just making that up." I turned around to see Asao coming out of a pool of shadows in the middle of the ring. "Though teaching you Touki is hardly giving away our clan techniques."

"Melissa didn't teach me how to use Chi, I knew about it long before I met her." I said while ripping the remaining shadows off my arm and Asao was surprised by that.

"Really?" He looked me up and down before smiling. "Then let's see what else you got."

Asao also activated Touki and coated his body in an armor made of shadows. He reached me in an instant and I crossed my arms, blocking his punch. A shockwave went out as I skidded back and met his leg with my own. I frowned as I lost slightly in the exchange and Chi Burst away from his second kick. Asao had no problem keeping up with me and we zoomed across the arena, our blows causing smaller shockwaves whenever they met. The cheers of the crowd only got louder as Asao kicked me in the stomach and sent me flying into the barrier. Grunting slightly from the impact, I rolled to the side as Asao's fist landed on the barrier and caused a ripple. I frowned at the small crack that appeared.

"Hey! That could have really hurt! What happened to "don't worry about this" huh!?" Asao lifted a brow.

"I said that this will be explained in time, I never said not to take it seriously."

"…Same difference!" I exclaimed and he shook his head.

"She was right, you are odd." Asao lunged at me after saying that and started pelting me with his now spiked gauntlets. The blows, while fast, couldn't get through my Touki and I smashed my fist in Asao's face. He flew back slightly, his nose bleeding and his balance wobbly. I pressed my advantage and Asao quickly became on the defensive, my fists hitting every part of his body. Just as I was about to kick his mid stomach, he sank into his shadow and my leg hit air. I cautiously looked around, wondering where he would come out from and kept an eye on my own shadow. A shadow tendril suddenly shot out from between the tiles and I retreated before it could grab me. That wasn't the only one as many tendrils started popping up around the arena and came at me with a vengeance. I dodged left and right, not allowing myself to stay in one place to long or be ensnared. I frowned when one tendril grazed my thigh and left a small cut.

'So this how it feels to fight Melissa? Damn this is annoying.' The tendrils never seemed to end even when I cut them to pieces and Asao was nowhere to be seen. I never asked Melissa how one could drag a Shadow Leopard from the shadows because I never thought to bring it up (that would be some odd pillow talk though). I did know however that using these shadow tendrils used up their fair share of Chi so if it's a stamina fight Asao wants then he's in for a rude awakening. He must have known that since after 5 minutes of dodging, he came out from his hidey hole.

"You are quite strong mister Pierce; hopefully enough where doing this won't get me in trouble." Asao chuckled at his own words and I frowned at what I saw next. I felt something shift in the air and Asao's body slowly started to change. I activated Chi Vision to see what he was doing and watched as his Chi became…pure. I blinked at the thought, wondering why I thought that and Asao's transformation was complete. He was a little shorter now, roughly my height, his clothes now too large for his body and his face was younger. He took off his shirt, dropping it on the ground because of how baggy it was now and rolled his shoulder. "I'm always reminded of my age when I synchronize with Mother Nature, it's pretty sad." He sighed at the confession and smiled at my confused face.

"What was th-'' I didn't get to finish as Asao disappeared from my vision and in my stupor, couldn't react to his fist hitting my chest. A shockwave went out as I flung away and did a back flip before landing on my feet. I grimaced as I felt a rib give way from his punch and my Chi worked on fixing that. Asao looked surprised as I nonchalantly stood straight and wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth.

"…I figured it wouldn't be that eas-"

"Ferro Corpus, Celeritas Decem, Donum Consensu Initis." Three magic circles appeared under me, the energy from them fusing into my Touki. The crowd seemed awed into silence as my Touki turned into a silver brighter than usual (not that they knew that) and I glared at Asao. "If you're going to interrupt me then at least let it be because I'm rambling or doing a villain monologue, doing it just to show off your new strength makes you look like a jackass!"

"…What?" I sent 3 Chi Swords at Asao and he weaved through them, rushing at me once again. Just like before, I couldn't track his movements but when his foot landed on my arm he hissed in pain. Stumbling back, he blocked my fist with his arm and was sent flying away. Jumping up, I tried to land on him but he rolled out of the way. A crater formed under me and I Chi Burst to him, kicking him in the chest. He spat out blood and summoned a bunch of Shadow Hounds. I moved in a blur, incapacitating the hounds in seconds but that was all the time Asao needed.

"Kamaitachi.'' The shadows in Asao's hands turned into a large scythe, the bladed part digging into the stone floor. He flicked the scythe and sent a stone projectile at me. I smacked the stone chunks to the side and Asao swiped at me. I calmly ducked, the scythe swishing past where my head once was and jumped to the side when it came down.

'So that's how we're playing this.' Seeing how Asao's aura grew stronger, I chose to get serious as well and took out my Demon Swords. With both Dáinsleif and Tyrfing ready to go, I stared down the Shadow Yokai and he stared back. A minute of this passed before we rushed at each other.

The crowd's cheering only got louder as shadows, ice, and power clashed.

Same Time, Entrance to the Land of the Shadow Yokais

Melissa sighed in relief as she came through the Torii gate, glad to be home after dealing with all the political nonsense this past week. Her sigh must have been heard because a hand lightly hit her head.

"Oh stop being dramatic, it wasn't that bad." Melissa turned to the owner of said hand. A very beautiful woman stood in front of the Shadow Yokai. She had long black hair, golden eyes, and a voluptuous figure. This was Melissa's mother, Mayumi and Melissa deadpanned.

"Mom, that was the worst week of my life and I've been to the Kappa Groves with dad."

"…You're never going to let me live that down are you?" Melissa's father, Ren said with a groan when he stepped out of the portal. He was a tall man with black hair, a handsome face and golden eyes.

"Considering you lost all our food in a bet in a sumo match…no, I don't think I will."

"…" Ren had no comeback for that. The trio started to walk down the street, saying hello to any passing Yokais and made way to the castle. Melissa noticed there seemed to be less people on the street today which was odd considering what's going to happen in a couple of days. She furrowed her brows when they passed the communal Arena and a lot of noise was being made inside.

"What's going on in there?" Mayumi asked, also wondering why there was so much noise coming from within. "Are Hideo and Genzo fighting over artifacts again?" Melissa's mother figured that the two elders known for fighting over relics were the ones causing the racket.

"They really need to find a new hobby." Ren said wistfully and walked towards the entrance. "Come on, let's see what's going on." While a part of Melissa was curious, the majority just wanted to go to her room and sleep until the festival started. Her original plan to just help watch over her siblings and the clan while her parents went to talk with the other affiliated clans backfired spectacularly. Granted her decision to tell her parents the truth about her "travels" these past couple of months may have had a hand in it, she still thought they were being unreasonable (not that she would ever voice that of course). They eventually reached the stands and looked down at the arena, seeing two figures blur across the floor. Melissa noticed that every time the blurs met, a shockwave went out along with a burst of shadows and ice-

'Wait, ice?' Melissa furrowed her brows as the color of ice was purple and didn't remember an elder that can do that. Then the blur with a scythe was pinned to the ground by a green glowing sword and it was held by someone glowing silv-

"What the hell is going on!?" Mayumi's voice vibrated across the arena, silencing the loud cheering and gaining everyone's attention. Both combatants jumped at the voice and Pierce separated from her uncle, looking around for the source of the voice before his gaze landed on her. They stared at each other across the stadium for a second before Fusao's voice rang out.

"Mayumi, what is the meaning of this!? We were in the middle of-"

"You be quiet!" Her mother immediately shut down the Head Elder's words, causing him to gape. "I'm not even going to ask what you were thinking but we will talk about this later!"

"But-"

"Sit Down!" The Head Elder sat down at the angry tone of the Matriarch and she sighed. "Everyone go home, this fight is over." While that got a couple of disappointed sounds from the crowd, everyone in the stands filed out in an orderly fashion or sank into their shadows. Soon, the only ones left were Melissa, her parents, the Elders, and the team. The silence was deafening as Mayumi glared at Fusao, Asao and Pierce standing in front of her. "Do any of you have anything to say about yourselves?" No one said anything as they looked at each other.

"They started it." Well, not everyone. Melissa covered her face with her palm as Mayumi and Ren gave Pierce unimpressed looks. This was not how she envisioned her parents meeting her boyfriend for the first time.

She ignored the small voice in the back of her head that said "yes, yes it was".

1 Hour Later, Back to Pierce

Melissa and I sat facing each other in a small guest room, Jade sleeping on my lap. After Melissa's mother arrived and ended the trial, we were escorted to the castle. Her parents went to have a word with her grandfather while the others were brought to their own rooms, giving us some time to talk.

"…"

"…"

"…So…how have things been?" I asked and Melissa gave a shrug.

"They've been alright."

"Cool…Cool." I nodded.

"…"

"…" Okay, this was awkward as hell. I tilted my head at her snort. "What?"

"I agree, this is weird." It took me a second too long to realize I said that out loud. "Then again, beating the crap out of my uncle the first time you ever met would make anything awkward."

"Oh come on, now's that not fair. They started it!" Melissa chuckled at my whine.

"I believe you; my uncle can get carried away when meeting a strong opponent."

"Yeah, I was thinking more of your overprotective grandpa." She made a confused face at the mention of Fusao.

"Really? That doesn't sound like him…" Melissa fell into deep thought before shrugging. "Well, it's safe to say you made quite the first impression."

"Don't I always?" I smirked and she rolled her eyes. With the awkward mood from earlier gone, we started talking about random stuff and she explained what happened to her this past week. After coming home and spending time with her family, she told her parents that she was on a team tasked to kill Zeth. While they were shocked at their daughter's choice to do something so dangerous, they ultimately respected her decision. I made a weird expression when I heard that.

"So they weren't mad?" Melissa laughed.

"Oh no, they were furious but they realized telling me not to go wouldn't work so they just accepted it." But that didn't stop her parents from punishing her and forcing her to come with them to run a couple of errands for the up-coming Yokai Festival (they also took away her communication ring so she wouldn't get distracted).

"What is a Yokai Festival?"

"It's where all the Yokai clans in Japan and the Shinto Gods gather together to throw a three day and three night long celebration. It's to celebrate the ancient history between the two factions and to hope for more to come. It's pretty fun!" Melissa started to get animated talking about the festival and it got me excited as well.

"Can we go?" I asked, wondering if it's only Yokais and Shinto Gods allowed but Melissa said some humans have joined the festival before. Grinning at the thought of seeing such an event, I was surprised when Melissa leaned over and kissed me. I gave her a curious look when she pulled back.

"Thank you for coming to check on me, I should have explained my situation better." Melissa said and I waved my hand at her.

"It's not like you could control it, I'm just glad you're safe."

"So you're not mad?" I smiled at Melissa's question.

"You tell me." I pulled Melissa closer and gave her a kiss, one she readily returned. Jade scrambled from my lap as Melissa straddled it and pressed her large chest against mine. Our kiss got more aggressive as I ran my hands across her thighs and she started to grind on me.

"Ah-hem." We stopped at the sound and looked over to see the door now open. Melissa's parents along with her grandfather were standing there, giving us bland looks (though Fusao was practically glaring). Feeling Melissa's weight off me a second later, I looked over to see her calmly sitting in her original position. One thought ran through my head as Melissa fixed her clothes.

'…If Issei can learn boob magic then I'm going to learn a spell that wards off cock blockers, I swear on Ichiei!' Promising to make such a spell later (or see if it already exists), I stood up and bowed to Melissa's family. "Hi, you guys must already know this but I'm Pierce. Pleasure to meet you all." Mayumi and Ren bowed back, Fusao looking away in contempt. Well he tried to anyway but Melissa's mom forced him to bow as well.

"I thought we talked about this, stop being difficult and act your age!" The Matriarch lectured the far older elder and he grunted before doing so. She shook her head at her father in law's manners and took a seat next to Melissa. Ren sat on the opposite side and Fusao sat next to me (though his glare never left his face).

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Pierce, Melissa has told us a lot about you." Ren said and I perked up at that, giving the mentioned Yokai a sly grin.

"She has? What has she said?"

"That you're kind, funny, mature for your age…" My grin only got wider as the compliments kept coming. "…a bit dramatic, easily distracted…" The smile cracked a little. "Too honest for his own good, enjoys confusing others, can't understand proper etiquette…" My smile was gone and my head hung low. "Slightly reckless but not overly, hypocritical, oh yeah she also sai-" Ren's mouth was quickly covered by Mayumi's hand and he looked at his wife in confusion.

"I don't think Pierce can take anymore dear." She pointed at my hunched figure in the corner and sheepishly rubbed his head.

"...I try my best you know…it's all in good fun I swear…" I said in a sad tone and hugged my knees to my chest. Fusao humphed.

"If I knew it would be that easy I wouldn't have staged that trial. Now I know."

"Your true intentions are leaking out father." Mayumi deadpanned but the Head Elder kept drinking his tea nonchalantly. Ren laughed and patted Melissa on the head.

"You sure found quite a character to bring home, I guess it runs in the family!"

"Oh? So that's why you married me? Cause I'm a character?" Mayumi asked Ren menacingly and he started to sweat.

"W-Well, yeah! I-It's a compliment!" His wife didn't think it was. I blankly watched them ignore me and looked down to see Jade rubbing against my leg, wondering what was wrong.

"Awww that's my girl, caring about your master so much! You're the only solace I have left in this cruel world, come here!" I dramatically hugged the green Familiar, mock tears on my face as I rubbed her against my face.

"…" Jade, in all her rabbitness, made no comment on the oddity that was her master and just nuzzled back. Mayumi, after giving her husband what for, cleared her throat and looked at me.

"As amusing as this is, I feel like we should clear what happened earlier and why."

"I'm still not apologizing." Fusao huffed and Ren sighed.

"Father…" The Elder looked away in defiance. Ren rolled his eyes and turned to face me. "While my father may have been a bit over biased in that "trial", I assure you he wasn't the only one that demanded it." I furrowed my brows at that.

"Who else asked for it?"

"Most of the Elders actually." I blinked.

"Really? Why? How did I manage to piss off a bunch of noble Yokai's before even meeting them?" That'd be a new record, even for me. Ren pointed at Melissa.

"Because of her." I tilted my head in confusion and he saw fit to explain. "Melissa's importance is quite high to the Shadow Leopard's Pierce. She has a soul link with our origin of power, the Shadow Realm, she's the daughter of the ruling Matriarch and her own combat potential is very impressive. Many, if not all the Elders were against her going out on her own but her mother convinced them that she needed to go out and experience the world for herself. Their faces when she told them what she was really doing these past few months were incredible." Ren chuckled at the memory before regaining focus. "Her relationship with you also got a couple of mixed reactions."

"Why?"

"Because you're a human boy." Fusao answered and I looked to the Head Elder, the usual frown facing now a neutral expression. "In the world we live in and with our nobility, we must have a strong hand when it comes to our future. I'll be frank boy-

"Because you haven't been frank before?" I deadpanned but he didn't flinch.

"The majority of humans are weak. I won't say all because I've seen plenty of strong humans but we didn't get our hopes up that the one Melissa had her eye on was anything special. The only reason we didn't completely reject the relationship was because of your accomplishments. In depth knowledge of Chi, practitioner of Magic, wielder of multiple Demon Swords, apprentice to an Olympian God, Ultimate Class Slayer...I must say, when she started to giving out such titles I thought she was trying to cover up her decision with lies." The old man gave a small chuckle, earning a blush from Melissa and laughs from her parents. "We had to see it for ourselves."

"So that trial was-"

"Was a way to show the Elders you were worthy of Melissa." Mayumi finished and shook her head in exhaustion. "But the moment you showed the gatekeepers that you had the Shinto God's Sigil of Honor the whole thing should have been called off. A lot of old Yokai clans don't have that and shows your worth to the Shinto Gods."

'...Thank you Amaterasu.' I rubbed the place the Sigil was on and Fusao stood up.

"Regardless, you have shown enough potential and ability to protect this clan's dignity." Fusao gave a solemn look. "But mark my words, if you ever have the intent to harm her or this clan, I will personally come after you with all the power these old bones can give me. Is that understood?" Melissa moved to stand.

"Grandfather-" Her mother stopped her and we got into a staring match. I stared into Fusao's wizened eyes and nodded firmly.

"I promise." The Head Elder said nothing before giving a sincere smile.

"Good." Then he did something that caught everyone in the room off guard. He bowed to me. "Melissa also told us what happened in Scandinavia and how you protected her from the Oni. I bow to you not as an Elder, but as her grandfather. Thank you for protecting my granddaughter...Pierce." I smiled widely.

"Any time old man."

Fusao huffed goodnaturedly before standing straight and walked to the door, Melissa's parents following right behind him. I grinned at a blushing Melissa. I stood up and walked to her. "A bit dramatic?" Her face turned redder at my teasing tone. "Too honest for his own good?" She started to squirm when I got closer. "I'll give you hypocritical but I'm kind of hurt from the reckless part."

"B-But I didn't mean anything by the-" She never got to finish as I pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm glad I met you too Melissa." The Shadow Yokai was stunned in place before wrapping her arms around my waist.

"Me too..."

We didn't separate until much later. We walked out the room holding hands and she nodded down the hall.

"D-Do you want to come to my room?" Melissa acted like she was a teen asking the boy she likes into her room for the first time.

"Yes please." And I was loving every second of it. She started pulling me down the hall and we were half way down before one of the doors opened.

"Well, it's pretty late. I think it's about time we wrap this up." Fusao, coming from out the door, looped his arm around our arms and pulled a surprised Melissa to his side. "Ikumi will help you to your current lodgings." The Head Elder pointed to my left and I turned to see a tall maid standing next to me (I didn't even sense her approach).

"W-Wait, what are-"

"Now come my dear, I will accompany you to your room. I haven't had the chance to hear the adventures you've had since you were gone for most of the week." He put on the gentle smile of a kind grandpa while leading a confused Melissa down the hall and turned back to look at me. "Have a pleasant night...Pierce." The sly look in his eye as he turned the corner left me in shock.

"I will take you to your room now, please follow me." Ikumi said in a polite tone but I didn't react and continued to stare at where Fusao left with Melissa.

'...Oh it is on you shitty old man...' That was all that went through my mind as Ikumi dragged me to my room, Jade sleepily following along.