45

Liese practically jumped me when Maria and I came down for breakfast.

"If you can make us stronger through sex, why aren't you fucking us twenty-four seven?" she asked.

"Because raw power does nothing for your comprehension. In fact, it may even hurt you in the long run. Think about how much you gained last night with what amounts to four months of training, all while in a state that improved your retention and comprehension," I told her.

She was distracted by processing that information and didn't see Maria coming up behind her. Maria reached out with two fingers coated with a pearly white substance, and fish hooked Liese shoving that goo in her mouth and spinning her around. Pulling her down to face level, Maria drove her pink tongue into Liese's mouth.

Liese was shocked into compliance, and Maria ravished her mouth, smearing her lips with the pearly goo. When done, Maria pushed Liese away. "There's your taste of him. That's all you get,"

Liese touched her lips. "Wait... Is this?.."

"Yep," Maria said. "You can feel it can't you? Taste it? It's a higher order of energy, semi-divine in nature, but you'll never get a sample as pure yourself because you're selfish. You think everything will just be handed to you. Well, let me tell you something. There is an emotional component to the ability. Sasami confirmed it to me last night. The closer we are to Issei, emotionally and romantically, the better the ability functions.

If you want the biggest buck for your bang, you need to start seeing Issei as the amazing person he is and not just a power juice box. Right now, you're dead last among Issei's harem. Even your sister has a more developed relationship with Issei after last night."

That's actually true. Selina and I had a lovely time during our one-on-one date. The part about me is debatable.

"Go easy on her, Maria. She was a villain just yesterday," I said with a smirk. "Trust and love are in short supply in the villain camp."

"Hey!" Liese said. "What if it's you that's the villain?"

"Impossible, I'm a pure protagonist, and you tried to betray your friends and sister for power. Straight out villainy, but don't worry, you're one of those redemption villains, so you'll be a great ally to the protagonist, me."

"Well... when you put it like that..." Liese says, slightly chagrinned.

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The rest of the morning was uneventful. Well, relatively speaking, uneventful when compared to a blowjob from a talented succubus. School was much the same, with the exception of meetings with Rias and Sona and a strange game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who was going to tag along on our homicidal adventure. I said they could all come, but Rias and Sona insisted that some should stay behind as a backup plan in case something happened, or we needed rescuing.

We met on the school's roof once the rest of the students went home for the day. I was a little surprised and amused by the scene that greeted me once I arrived.

Standing in the middle of the roof were Arin, Koneko, and Yuki standing at the three points of a triangle, all staring with expressions that border on confusion and interest. To the side, a few of the others are giggling while watching the three.

Strangely, there is one girl that I don't think I've met, laughing a little louder than the rest and clutching at Saeko's arm like she's holding herself up. Tears stream down her cheeks, and she points at the trio. "Th-th-they look like Russian nesting dolls. Each one slightly smaller than the last."

The laughter redoubles, and the trio looks over at their audience and cock their heads to the side in question. Their movements are totally in sync with each others' lending to the comparison. I can't help but crack a smile.

"Oh, wow," Maria says. "They're so cute."

I must agree. The scene is interrupted when Yuki notices me, and she turns and walks over. Arin also sees me and walks my way.

"Issei," Yuki says. "Are you really going after a demon noble?"

I smile. "Hey, Yuki. I didn't expect to see you here." Actually, I did. Just with how this world works, I was expecting her to somehow tie herself into this.

"Why are you doing this?" Yuki asks.

"You know why."

"It's dangerous," she says. I see Mio frown, but she quickly takes a deep breath and fixes her thinking. I spent a lot of time in the four-month Dreamscape convincing her that she should trust me to know my limits. It was difficult, though. She feels guilty that she's dragging us into her problems. I told her that she was not dragging us anywhere. I was going to remove a threat to my family. She could come too if she wanted.

I shrug. "I'm bringing back up," I say, indicating the group around me. "Do you want to tag along?"

"Of course, I'm coming. I'm not letting you risk yourself with these devils and demons." She frowns.

I shake my head. "Sweetie, you know I'm part-demon, right?"

She jerks. "B-but th-that's different," she says.

I roll my eyes. "No, it isn't. It's just one more nail in the coffin of the bullshit the elders fed us. If we keep letting the hardliners in the factions spout lies and divide us, we will never reach a point where we can all just live together in peace.

We destroy ourselves over a war that isn't relevant to who we are anymore. The days of the factions being split along the lines of good and evil are over. Every faction has its assholes; some just stink worse than others."

The other girls standing around, nod with smiles on their faces. Yuki looks like she's about to say something else, but the girl who mentioned the Russian nesting dolls pops up between us. "Hi!" she says, holding out a hand. "I'm Tomoe Meguri, Knight of Sitri, and I guess one of your potential sex friends. It's nice to meet you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tsubaki with one hand covering her face and shaking her head. I reach out and take Tomoe's hand. "It's nice to finally meet you, but I should tell you, I don't have 'sex friends,' I have lovers. As much as casual sex might be fun with a cutie like you, my abilities make that an impossibility."

Okay, so I'm pretty much bullshitting her here. While it is partially true that sex does instantly trigger the bond, I'm pretty sure I could remove it or prevent it if I really wanted to... but I don't. I'm pretty much planning to take the entire Sitri peerage and all the women of the Gremory peerage too. If I were a bigger asshole, I'd probably figure out a way to boot Kiba and Gasper to make room for more ladies, but I'm not that big of an asshole.

"Hmm?" Tomoe looks curious about what I meant, but I don't feel like explaining right now, and she eventually shrugs.

"I've heard you're quite a swordswoman," I say. "I've sparred with Saeko before she became a knight. How do you stack up to each other?"

"Oh, she's incredible. Her form is perfect. I can't keep up with her," Tomoe says, excited.

"Nonsense, your Spirit Sword style is quite impressive. You're one of the few who can push me to my limits," Saeko says. Tomoe blushes slightly.

"Well, I have to agree with her about your form, but if you all come tonight, we can have a more thorough training session perhaps, and even get to know one another better."

Liese makes a 'tsk' sound behind me. I look and see her standing with her arms crossed and an embarrassed blush on her cheeks as she studiously looks away from me.

I feel a tug on my sleeve. I look over to see Arin looking up at me with her trademark kuudere stare. She closes her eyes and leans in, so I lean down and plant a kiss on her lips. Those lips curve just slightly into an approximation of a smile.

"Are you coming with me too?" I ask. She nods. "Thanks."

"Un."

I look up and see a raven-haired beauty looking nervous. "Yuuma? What are you doing here?"

"M-master, I- we thought that one of us should go with you while the others can keep the nun safe," she says, keeping her eyes down and shifting her feet.

"It's probably not necessary, you know," I say. "There are plenty of us going."

"But not one of us!" she says, looking up quickly before looking back down. "Master."

I wonder if I'm actually winning her over or if this is just a continuation of her machinations. I'll choose to err on the side of hope for now. "Alright, you can come with us, Yuuma."

She looks up with a radiant smile, and a flash of crimson from the pact sigil catches me off guard. She's close to a breakthrough. She might advance to the next stage of the Harem soon. I walk over to her and lift her chin, so she looks me in the eyes. "You really are trying, aren't you?" I ask.

"Yes, master," she whispers.

I whisper back, "I'm glad," and kiss her gently.

"Ahem," a certain busty redhead coughs... no, the other one. Okay, never mind. Rias coughs to draw attention to herself, and I oblige by looking over at my newly appointed anal pet.

"Yes, Rias?"

"So, where is it that we are going, and what is the plan?"

"Well... we're still one person short. I was kind of hoping only to have to go through this once."

"Who else is coming?" Mio asks.

"Well, about that-"

A shadow by the door shifts, and a glorified butler with a white and gold mask, black hair, and pointy ears, steps into view. Of course, this is Lars, aka Yahiro, who tried to force Mio's power to manifest and fought with Yuki when she thought he hurt me. As soon as Mio sees him, her arms spread, and several magic circles appear, including one beneath Lars' feet and above his head.

A heavy gravity fluctuation forces Lars to his knees, and he starts to summon his own power. "Whoa! Easy there, Mio. Yuki. Put the sword away. Same team, same team."

"What do you mean!" Mio shouts. "He almost to kill you!"

"It's a guy thing. We punch each other in the nose and then become friends afterward. It's not healthy, but it happens."

All the girls just look at me like I have two heads. Not that one! "Lars is on our side for this mission. Our objectives align. Zolgear is an asshole, and we both agree," I look at Lars. "Only one thing, though, and you're not going to be thrilled about it."

"I'm not really thrilled about any of this. You haven't even told me how we're getting in."

"I told you, that's handled. The problem is in who kills Zolgear."

"You're not going back on your word. I'm killing him," Lars says.

"NO!" Mio shouts. "He killed my parents. I have to kill him."

"First off," I say, pointing at Lars. "I never gave my word that you could kill him. Second. Neither of you is killing him. I am."

I can hear them start to argue but cut them off. "Before any more of your nonsense. Shut up and listen. Zolgear has been researching how to bring people back from the dead for a long time. If you think that slippery scumbag hasn't figured out how to resurrect himself, then you're crazy... But if you destroy his soul, he can't resurrect or reincarnate or anything else."

Mio frowns, and I'm pretty sure under the blank mask, so is Lars. "Can either of you destroy his soul? No. You can't," I say and summon Brynhildr. "But I can feed it to Brynhildr here, and it will consume it."

Everyone is quiet. "So," I say. "Beat him, cut him, burn him, crush him, cut his dick off and feed it to him, I don't care, but the final strike that ends his life comes from this blade. Do you understand?"

Mio pouts but nods, and Lars just looks away... I think.

"Great. Now that that is settled. Once we arrive, I'd like the devils to set up an evacuation point outside the barrier. Zolgear is a giant douche and has several mind-broken sex slaves, and I'd like to see if we can get them some help."

That sobered the girls up. "Once we neutralize the resistance, we'll have Raynare and Liese bring the victims out. Tsubaki, is Sona standing by?"

"She is, though we aren't sure how much good we can do the women," she says.

"We'll work something out," I respond and then return to the plan. "Once we've ransacked the place for interesting toys, we'll set the boobytrap to consume the core and prevent the MAD response that Zolgear has set up in case of his defeat. Then we'll draw Zolgear back and sit him in the middle of a kick circle. Any questions?"

Tomoe raises a hand, and I nod. "Um... how are we getting there? And where is there?"

I just smile as my shadow expands and Zest rises from it. I think the person most shocked is Lars.

"Zest! Impossible!" he nearly shouts.

"No, just improbable. Nothing in this world is impossible," I say. "Now then, Zest, open a gate to a quarter-mile from the barrier."

"Yes, master."

The shadows congeal and undulate, forming an arched gate. "I'm last through. Knights and Rook secure the perimeter. Maria, Liese, Raynare, and Arin, are up next. Rias, Mio, Tsubaki, and Yuki after that. Lars and Zest, please hold the gate for one more moment after you make it through, and I'll be right behind you."

After Zest passes through the dark gate, I wait a second. "Did you want to come too?" I ask.

A section of the wall behind me peels away, revealing a chagrinned Levi standing there. "You actually spotted me, huh?"

"A wild guess," I say. A wild lie, really. Sasami can sense everything within a ten-kilometer radius. One little ninja girl with a decent level of presence concealment isn't much of a challenge. "So? How about it? Are you coming or not?"

She shrugs. "Sounds fun."

I hold out my arm, offering it to her. "Shall we?"

She takes my elbow. "Let's," she says. Right before we step into the dark, she asks. "Is this according to the script?"

"Nah, I just want to feed this guy through a woodchipper. He's not supposed to die until after the Hero Village sends a group after Mio."

"Jerks."

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Everything goes pretty much the way I laid out, with only minor grumbles from Saeko for not being in the thick of it and Liese, who is wondering why she's here, to begin with.

Entry was a snap since Zest was able to override the security in place, and I could use my speed and magic to neutralize any living security we saw. These were all mind broken, half-naked demonesses, so I only knocked them out. The demon beast watch dog Zolgear had around the more sensitive areas were taken out primarily by Mio, but occasionally Yuki would get one too.

Mio wanted to prove that she was ready, and to be fair, after all the training and input from the others in the overnight four-month training cycle, she became quite adept. She even made significant headway with incorporating the Demon Lords Mantle given to her by her mother. According to Sasami, she started unlocking her devil heritage, and at a quick clip at that.

This is key for my future plans, and I'm hoping she'll be close to fully integrated with both her bloodline and the Mantle as well within the month. Levi stayed close to me the whole time we explored the castle, giving us time to talk.

Hey, I wanted to ask you," I say. "Did you ever learn that Shadow Clone technique? That would be really useful to learn right about now."

"What? Can't keep up with all your girls?" she asks.

"First off, they can't keep up with me," I say. "And second, I wouldn't use clones for that. The girls deserve my attention, not a cheap knockoff's attention."

"That's kind of sweet," she says.

"Yeah. And anyway, who knows how my abilities would interact with cloning. That way lies madness."

She shivers. "To answer your question, no. They keep that one on lockdown. I was tempted to break in and learn it myself, but someone else beat me to it. After that, breaking in seemed like a bad idea."

"Heh. Let me guess. Asta?" I say.

She stops. "H-how did you know that?"

"He's a protagonist. Well, two, maybe more- I don't know. Anyway, you remember the whole multiverse thing?"

She nods. "Well, in one of those worlds, little Uzimake gets tricked into stealing the scroll and learns the Shadow Clone Jutsu from it before he is found out. Another case of the Elders keeping secrets and letting kids shoulder the blame. Maybe I should make a return trip to Orario and call in the favor he owes me to learn it. It certainly would help with my plans."

"You sure you don't just want to catch up with one of your old fiances, right?" Levi asks with a devilish grin. "Before I left, Ino asked me to look in on you to make sure you were okay. Her sister seemed pretty interested in your wellbeing as well."

Oh, shit. Yeah, that makes me really want to take a trip back to Orario. Ino and her sister would definitely be worth the trip, provided they haven't bought into the Elder's bullshit.

[Issei,] Sasami says. [There is a strange energy signature coming from that room over there.]

"Ah, hang on, Levi. Let's check that room. There's something there," I say and walk over to the door. "Hey, Zest? Is anything going to jump out at me if we break into here?"

"This is one of Zolgears laboratories. We were not allowed inside."

I nod. I kind of expected that. 'Sasami, I assume there are traps, sensors, or alarms. Can you confirm?'

[Of course, Issei. Even if you disable it, there is a tricky ward that will send a signal to the creator. There are also several traps. I would suggest using your quirk to banish the energy of the ward and then manually disabling the traps in order according to their power. That should remove the energy from the ward required to signal Zolgear.]

'Alright, guide my hands, please.'

With a verticle slash, an energy construct appears in front of the door before being sucked into a vortex of the Zero Dimension. Six more cuts, and the traps are disabled. Pushing open the door, I can see an expansive room revealed. Books, scrolls, equations and pictograms written on chalkboards and scraps of parchment, test tubes, beakers, crystals, wires, and everything but the kitchen sink. Scratch that. There is a kitchen sink. It looks like every mad scientists' lab had a gangbang with a wizard's tower, and this was the resulting abomination of a love child."

"How the fuck are we supposed to find anything in this place?" I ask out loud.

[It's alright, I can guide you to that energy source. It's on the far bench past the dissection table. It appears to be a long box.]

I approach the table to find the 'long box' sitting right there. It's about one meter in length, black with gold trim and what looks like a gold catch plate on top with a small hole in the middle. The box has no seams or apparent mechanism to open it other than the aforementioned plate. Notes have been strewn about the desk, and I riffle through them briefly before finding what I need.

Flipping through a few pages, I feel the smile stretch across my face. This is... fucking perfect. I collect all of the papers and deposit them into my inventory, and then I slice open the palm of my hand and drip a decent amount of blood onto the plate. The box glows an ominous color before a spot manifests on the front of the box that looks large enough for a thumb to press against, and I do just that.

A surge of energy flows through me, and I feel something click deep inside.

[Issei, the seal on your Demon Lord bloodline has shattered, and the Togami bloodline is conflicting with it. You may feel a bit of discomfort as Ddraig is attempting to use your Dragon King bloodline to keep them both in check.]

'In check,' she says. I suddenly feel like I've grown testicles over half of my body, and someone kicked them all. It's not burning. It's a core deep ache that makes me want to cry and gasp for air. After a few minutes, which feels more like a few hours, I pull myself back to my feet.

Zest is standing over me, looking concerned while Levi is reading through the rest of the papers I hadn't collected, probably looking for something to tell her what was going on.

"I'm fine. That was my fault. I sort of jumped the line and am suffering the backlash," I say, wheezing all the way.

I look at the box, and there is a seem now. I crack it open and inside are a complete set of chess pieces, Evil Pieces, but unlike the ones for devils which are white, these are black and keyed to the demon bloodline. My bloodline. I smile and pull a piece from the box.

I'm about to turn to Zest when my eyes stumble across something interesting. I set the piece down and pick up a page of notes. 'Sasami, is this what I think it is?'

[I believe so, Issei. Zolgear's experiments are further reaching than we thought.]

'And he's working with someone. Someone inside Orario.'

I look at Zest for a moment.

"Zest my little devil bunny, I have a present for you," I say, pulling a different piece from the box and holding it out. She reaches out to accept the piece, and it begins to glow a vibrant green, eventually engulfing us both in its glow.

As it fades, I can already feel the difference in her and even in me. The connection between a king and their peerage is more substantial than I anticipated. I open my mouth to explain to Zest what just happened when I hear Maria's voice projected along the bond to me.

'Issei, come quick! I need your help,' she says.

Homing in on her signal, I take off running. I drop down a level before finding her standing outside a cell door.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I ask.

She turns to me with a slightly panicked look on her face. "They're starving. You need to help them."

I frown and step up to look through the cell window. Oh, fuck me.