Terror in Kyoto

Human World, Japan, Kyoto.

Two weeks have passed since James purchased the new bed frames for himself and Scathach. And in those two weeks, James was more than satisfied with his purchases. Another thing that happened over those two weeks is that James has had two [Rating Games] against young devil teams. The first was against Team Agares, and the second was against Team Glasya-Labolas. Both of which he won without much effort. Although he knew that both teams were much weaker than his own, he made sure that his peerage, excluding himself and Scathach, fought without holding back. This, of course, led to the [Games] not lasting very long.

All the other teams also had another [Rating Game], as well. Team Sitri faced off against Team Agares in their second match. And the level of strategy displayed left all the onlookers impressed. In the end, Team Sitri claimed the victory by a narrow margin. If it were not for their time training with Scathach, the outcome would have most likely been in Seekvaira's favor.

Team Gremory's [Game] was against Team Bael. This [Game], however did not go in Rias' favor. Although the [Game] was close, Sairaorg was more than Rias could handle at the end. On top of that, Sairaorg was forced to reveal his secret. Sairaorg's [Pawn], regulus was a [Sacred Gear] all along. Naturally, this surprised all who were watching. Thanks to Rias' level of power, Sairaorg was forced to reveal that Regulus was the Independent Avatar Type [Sacred Gear], [Regulus Nemea], and one of the thirteen Longinus. Although he had no intention of revealing this fact so early, he was forced to in order to claim victory.

Today, however, he found himself standing in front of Kyoto Station after just arriving in Kyoto with the second-year students and teachers from Kuoh Academy.

"So, you're really not coming with us to the hotel, James?" Mizore asked while she looked at James with puppy dog eyes.

"Sorry Mizore, I have to meet with Sera-Tan. And before that, I'm going to visit Yasaka and Kunou." James said with a wry smile. "But don't worry, after a few official meetings, I'll have time to spend with you."

Mizore only pouted in response. However, she did not insist. She knew that James was sent here for important business.

"But if Ise gets out of hand, you can call me." James said with a smile. "I'll drop everything and punish him before going back."

"Come on, Senpai." Issei complained from nearby. "I just want to enjoy my school trip."

"I will not allow any of your perverted actions, Hyoudou Issei." Rossweisse said in a strict tone.

Like Scathach, Rossweisse was also added as a last-minute addition to the teaching staff who accompanied the second years on their trip. If it were not for the fact that Scathach would be leaving from time to time to accompany James during his negotiations with the Youkai, Rossweisse would not have been a necessary addition. Then again, if James did not have to deal with these negotiations, Scathach would have more than likely not been present in the first place and Rossweisse would have been the devil teacher who went on the trip anyway.

"Now, now, you don't have to be so hard on Ise, do you?" Azazel asked with his usual shit eating grin. "He's just trying to have fun, right?"

"Azazel-Sensei is the best!" issei cheered happily.

"No means no." Rossweisse said sternly in Azazel's direction.

Like James, Azazel was also on the trip because he would be participating in the negotiations with the Kyoto Youkai regarding the alliance. So, he too, like Scathach, would not always be accompanying the students.

"Anyway, you guys should get going." James said while pointing at the other Kuoh Academy students. "The rest of your class is about to leave."

Looking in the direction James pointed, the other supernatural beings could see that James was right. So, after bidding James goodbye, they began to follow the other students and teachers.

"Master, I'll come and get you before the negotiations start." James said as the others walked away.

Without responding verbally, Scathach simply waved her hand while she walked away.

After he was left alone, James also walked away from the train station. A few moments later, a teleportation magic circle appeared underneath him and he vanished a moment later with the other pedestrians being none the wiser. A moment later, a teleportation circle appeared outside the Youkai Sub-Dimension with James standing in its center. However, something felt... Off.

"Hmm..." James stroked his chin as he scanned his surroundings. "I thought Yasaka was supposed to be waiting for me out here."

A moment later, James spread his perception as far as he could. Eventually, he felt Yasaka and Kunou's presences. However, when he did, his expression turned cold immediately.

"I don't know who you are." James said in a frigid tone. "But you've made a grave mistake."

Then, in a burst of speed, James vanished from where he was standing.

About fifteen minutes earlier, Yasaka and Kunou were standing outside the gate to the Youkai Sub-Dimension waiting for James' arrival.

"Mom, when is James-Otousan gonna get here?" Kunou asked for the sixth time since they arrived in front of the gate ten minutes ago.

"Calm down my little fox." Yasaka said with a wry smile on her face. "He should be here soon. The train was probably just a little late."

In fact, due to Kunou's persistence, they came out here twenty-five minutes earlier than the agreed upon time. Kunou had been so excited to see James that she did nothing but pester Yasaka about it from the time she woke up.

'I still haven't told James about Kunou's new form of address for him, yet.' Yasaka thought to herself with a smile. 'I bet the look on his face will be really cute when he hears it.'

Not even a week ago, Kunou realized that it was inappropriate to call her new step-father, "Onii-Chan." So, she decided to start calling James "Otou-San" as a sign of his new status. However, feeling a bit mischievous, Yasaka told Kunou not to call him that until they met in person. She gave Kunou the reason that James would appreciate it more that way.

As Yasaka and Kunou waited for James to arrive, Yasaka suddenly felt an anti-recognition barrier being erected around them and the gate to the sub-dimension. Immediately going on high alert, she pulled Kunou, who was confused by her mother's actions close to her.

"Mom, is something wrong?" Kunou asked as she was unable to detect the high-level barrier that had been erected.

"Go back into the sub-dimension, Sweetie." Yasaka said quietly while scanning her surroundings. "It seems we have some uninvited guests."

Hearing the severity in her mother's tone, Kunou questioned her no further. Immediately turning around, she tried to enter the Youkai Sub-Dimension. Unfortunately, things would not be as easy as she thought.

"Mom, it won't open!" Kunou cried in surprise.

"Tch!" Yasaka clicked her tongue. Then, she shouted. "This is Youkai territory. Show yourselves and we can discuss whatever it is that you want."

At first, Yasaka considered taking a more aggressive approach to the offenders. She thought better of it a moment later, though. With Kunou here, she had to be more cautious.

A moment later, a group of humans appeared in front of the two nine-tailed foxes.

"Humans?" Yasaka asked in confusion. "What is the meaning of this?"

"We, the members of the Khaos Brigade's Hero Faction request your assistance, lady Yasaka." A man who appeared to be in his thirties and the leader of these humans said as he stepped forward. "Please come with us."

"The Khaos Brigade? Why would I offer my assistance to a bunch of terrorists?" Yasaka said, hiding Kunou behind her in the process.

"Although I said it was a request, you don't really have a choice." the man said. "Seize them, prioritize capturing the girl. If we have her, Yasaka will follow us obediently."

Hearing that, Yasaka's eyes turned cold. Then, without waiting for her attackers to move, she generated an orb of pale blue flames on each of her hands, spread her nine tails, and ignited the tip of each with the same pale blue flames.

"Although my [Fox Fire] isn't as hot as a dragon's flame, you should enjoy being slowly roasted to death all the same." Yasaka said as she began hurling pale blue fire balls at the humans from the Khaos Brigade.

Hastily, the humans began to use their own means to defend from Yasaka's flames. And most did so successfully. Fortunately for them, Yasaka could not use her full power. Between protecting Kunou and keeping collateral damage to the minimum, her hands were effectively tied. And it seemed as though those humans were counting on that.

'We can't stay here.' Yasaka thought as she watched the majority of the humans attacking her easily defending against her [Fox Fire].

Acting swiftly on that thought, Yasaka took Kunou into her arms and leapt on top of the torii that acted as the gate to the Youkai Sub-Dimension. Then, she leapt toward the forest that surrounded the shrine the torii led to.

"Quickly, follow her!" The man who seemed to be the leader of these humans shouted. "We can't let her escape and we need to catch them quickly. The devils and fallen angels could be here any moment."

And just like that, the members of the Hero Faction chased after Yasaka and Kunou. As they ran, they launched their own attacks at Yasaka. Although they knew they had little chance of actually harming her, who was at the beginning stages of the minor god-rank, they knew that they could slow her down.

Like that, a few minutes passed as Yasaka fled from her attacks while defending from their magic spells and [Sacred Gear] attacks. The whole time, she was careful not to allow any harm to befall her daughter, Kunou. Eventually, Yasaka found a clearing that she thought would be a good place to dispose of her attackers. So, when she arrived in the clearing, she put Kunou on the ground and formed a barrier around her.

"Mom, why are these people attacking us?" Kunou asked in confusion.

"Because they are terrorists." Yasaka said as she waited for her attackers to arrive. "And terrorists do terrible things. They don't always have a reason, either."

At the same time, James had just teleported in front of the Youkai Sub-Dimension. Yasaka had no way of knowing that, though. And a moment later, their pursuers arrived in the clearing and proceeded to quickly surround the mother-daughter pair.

"You should just give up." The man leading the group said dispassionately. "You may be stronger than us. Much stronger in fact, but you can't stop us while protecting such a burden."

"You've made quite the mistake." Yasaka said coldly. "Two of them in fact."

As she spoke, once again she spread her nine tails and ignited [Fox Fire] on each of their tips. Simultaneously, she created balls of [Fox Fire] in each hand. Then, she began firing attacks at the group of humans who were surrounding them. This time each attack carried much more force than she showed in the city. Still, she could not exert all her power with Kunou so close. If she did, Kunou would be incinerated instantly from the heat alone.

"The first mistake was following me out here, where I can use a greater amount of my power." Yasaka said as her attacks burned several humans to ashes. Then, her tone turned more ferocious when she continued. "And the second was daring to call my daughter a burden"

As Yasaka's attacks rained down on them, the members of the Hero Faction did all they could to defend. However, they were slowly losing numbers. When they first appeared in front of Yasaka and Kunou, there were one hundred of them. During Yasaka's first attack in the city, they had lost five of their number. And after arriving at this point with ninety-five comrades, they had lost twenty-three in the last few moments under Yasaka's strengthened attacks.

"Stop trying to block!" The leader shouted. "Avoid and focus your attacks on the barrier with the little girl inside."

Following the order, the humans showed considerable agility as they avoided Yasaka's attacks. The number of casualties began to drop drastically as well. On top of that, Yasaka could not defend her barrier from all directions at the same time.

Although Yasaka was only able to kill five or six more of her attackers, their numbers were still decreasing. Right now, there were only around fifty of them left. The reason? During the battle, under the threat of death and with their wills to survive, many of the attacking humans were able to unlock their [Balance Breaker] states. And when they did, they would be engulfed by purple fog and teleported off the battlefield.

Unfortunately for those who were unable to unlock their [Balance Breaker], the time for their attack was up. Just as they were able to cause a few cracks to appear on the barrier, a faint voice could be heard from the direction they came from.

"Scatter, [Senbonzakura]!"

Then, a swarm of cherry blossom petal-shaped blades came flying out of the forest and quickly dealt with all the attackers. As they fell, the expressions of horror and disbelief on their faces were evident. Not in their wildest dreams did they expect Yasaka's reinforcements to arrive so quickly. A moment later, all the attackers, except for the leader, were dead. Then, James walked out of the forest calmly. However, the look in his eyes was anything but calm.

Seeing James, Yasaka exhaled a sigh of relief. Then, she smiled brightly and lowered the barrier around Kunou. After that, they both sprinted at James and wrapped him in a hug simultaneously.