Back Home after the Duel

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

Just after the duel between James and Sirzechs ended, the residents of the Alaverus Estate along with Issei, Asia, Irina, and Genshirou were watching as Sirzechs prepared to sneak attack James. At that moment, the room was filled with a surprising amount of killing intent.

"That son of a bitch!" Leona shouted. "If he makes that attack, I'll make sure he comes to regret it for the rest of his miserable life."

Usually, Cassiel would be the first to try and calm his wife down. However, just as Leona was, he was also releasing a massive amount of killing intent. At the same time, Rias was watching the TV with sadness and disappointment. Luckily, Sirzechs lowered his hand without attacking James.

After that, the room fell silent for the next few minutes. In that silence, they all watched James teleport out of the temporary battlefield. Then, a teleportation circle appeared. At first, they all thought it was James and prepared to rush over to him. However, when they saw the mark on the circle, they realized that it was Grayfia.

"Good evening." Grayfia said in her usual expressionless manner. "I have come to retrieve Lady Rias on the request of Lady Gremory."

"My mother, what could she possibly want?" Rias asked in confusion.

"She would like to see Lord Lucifer as a family, and she requests your presence." Grayfia explained.

"Oh, that's perfect." Rias said with anger burning in her eyes. "I need to have a word with my brother, anyway."

"Very well." Grayfia said without changing her expression. "Then, allow me to escort you to the Underworld, Lady Rias."

Rias nodded her head strongly, then she walked quickly to stand next to Grayfia. After bidding everyone goodbye, Grayfia teleported away with Rias.

"Did something seem... Off about Grayfia?" Cassiel asked, having calmed down from his anger slightly. "She seemed distracted? If that's the right word."

"Don't worry about it." Leona said, waving dismissively. "If we're meant to know, we'll find out."

Although Leona said that, she had a pretty good idea of what was going on, and why Grayfia seemed different. She had heard from Venelana that Grayfia was rethinking her marriage with Sirzechs after seeing how much he had changed.

"Anyway, how many hits was that combo at the end of the beatdown?" Leona asked excitedly.

"At least two thousand." Issei answered just as excitedly. "But the [Primary Lotus] was the best part of the fight!"

"I know, right!" Reya chimed in. "It's so cool to see James use moves from his manga."

"He used the [Morning Peacock] in the [Rating Game] with Team Bael, too." Asia said much more reservedly.

With that, discussions about James fight with Sirzechs, and his fights in general began animatedly. There was one person who was not as excited as the rest, though.

"Hey, Old Hag." Yusuke said in a serious tone. "How strong is Toguro compared to James?"

"Well, by Spirit World's standards, Toguro is a peak B-rank demon." Genkai said. "In the rest of the supernatural world, that would be at the peak of the high-rank. And James is at the beginning of the major god-rank, or SS-rank by Spirit World's standards. So, he's more than two whole ranks higher."

Yusuke paled when he heard that.

'He's only four years older than me, right?' Yusuke thought. 'How the hell is he so strong?'

"It's because he's not lazy like you." Genkai said, answering the question in Yusuke's mind.

Startled, Yusuke opened his mouth to retort.

"Oh great, the old hag can read minds now." Yusuke said uncomfortably.

"I can't' read minds, Dimwit." Genkai said while rolling her eyes. "But reading what you're thinking by looking at that stupid face of yours is child's play."

As Genkai began speaking this time, for some inexplicable reason, the room fell into silence. When it did, everyone in the room heard Genkai's statement. Then, in unison, everyone nodded in agreement.

Noticing this, Yusuke was about to lash out as he always does. However, he met Scathach's eyes, and all his complaints died in his throat. Just remembering the punishment he received for mouthing off to Scathach once during training made him shudder.

'She's way scarier than Toguro when he destroyed that parking garage.' Yusuke thought to himself while shivering.

At that moment, another teleportation circle appeared in the living room. This time, it was who everyone was waiting for. Once the magic circle disappeared, James appeared in its place with his usual smile on his face.

"Yo, I'm... Whoa!" James began to say before he was tackled.

Lucky for James, his physique was strong enough that he was not thrown to the floor.

"You're so~~~~ strong, nya!" Kuroka said excitedly with her arms and legs wrapped around James while she rubbed her face on his chest. "Let's make kittens, nya! Make kittens with me, nya!"

Standing right behind Kuroka, Leona was dumbfounded. She had used the [Flash Step] with everything she had so that she could be the first to hug James. Yet, somehow Kuroka beat her to it. A moment later, Cassiel walked up behind Leona and pattered her on the shoulder.

"You're fast, Honey, there's no doubt about that." Cassiel said, the smile on his face was audible in his tone. "But you're still only at middle-rank. No matter how fast you are with the [Flash Step], an ultimate-rank like Kuroka is out of your league."

Hearing that, Leona felt like she had been struck by lightning. It's true that she never cared about getting stronger. However, the thought of not being the first to hug her baby when he gets home after a battle made something inside her break.

"Fine!" Leona exclaimed. "Until I'm at least at the peak of the ultimate-rank, I'll train every day, without fail. No one will ever beat me to welcoming my baby home with a hug, ever again!"

Leona's declaration caused everyone in the room to look at her with strange expressions. Everyone except Kuroka, who was still clinging to James, and Koneko, who was holding her older sister by the tails and trying to pull her away from James.

"Her motivations are certainly... Unique." Evangeline said while gazing at Leona incredulously.

"Yeah, but as long as she gets stronger, no one will have to worry as much about her." Irene said with a shrug.

"I guess that's true. "Evangeline said, shrugging like Irene.

However, at that moment, A powerful pressure fell on the room. When they looked toward its source, they were surprised to see Scathach staring at Leona intensely.

"I will hold you to those words, Leona." Scathach said with intensity. "And if I were to find you slacking, my punishment will be swift."

Just then, Leona realized what she had done. She basically made an oath in front of Scathach, who takes them very seriously, having been bound by an oath, or geass if you would, for a millennium.

"No~~~~~!" Leona said. "What in the world did I just do?"

With a smile, Cassiel patted Leona on the shoulder again. Then, he took a step forward, intending to give James a slap on the back to congratulate him for his victory. However, just before his hand landed on his son's back, he was kicked away forcefully.

"You're trying to get ahead of me too, Cass?" Leona said in a threatening tone while her arms were wrapped around James. "You may be my husband, but I won't let you have this."

Then, when she had finished speaking to Cassiel, Leona's expression turned into a bright smile as she turned her attention back to James.

"Welcome back, Sweetie." Leona said in a loving tone. "Congratulations on the win."

"Thanks, Mom." James replied with a wry smile while he returned the hug. "I feel so much better now that I've gotten all that negativity out of my system."

"That's good to hear." Cassiel said with an awkward smile as he wrapped his arms around his wife and son. "Holding onto all that anger wasn't good for you, anyway. Oh, and you did great out there."

"Thanks, Pop." James replied with a smile.

After his parents were done with their congratulations, James was quickly surrounded by everyone else. The most excited, of course, were his girlfriends, who were more than a little turned on after seeing him fight. The next group of excited people were the fans of his manga. They kept asking him what other moves he was able to do.

Eventually, the hustle and bustle calmed down and everyone took seats on the Sofas, with Koneko and Ravel sitting on one of James' thighs each, while Ophis sat on his shoulders.

"So, now that the duel is out of the way, the next event is the trip to Heaven, right?" Akeno asked with a smile. "It's too bad that just you and your peerage were invited to go."

"Actually, Mom was invited, too." James said with a smile. "Apparently, Gabriel wanted to see her, too."

"You didn't mention that before." Leona said from her seat on Cassiel's lap.

"I was too focused on the duel." James said with a shrug that caused Ophis to buck as if she was on a mechanical bull.

"Do it again." Ophis said in her monotonous tone.

Instead of replying, James just began to shrug his shoulders repeatedly while Ophis held on to his hair. Although her expression did not change, it was clear to anyone who took the time to look, that she was enjoying herself just from the look in her eyes.

"When will we journey to Heaven, my disciple?" Scathach asked curiously.

"We'll do it next weekend." James replied. "I'm gonna take it easy this weekend. And if you'll allow it, I'd like to take a rest from training for today and tomorrow."

"I believe you have earned a respite." Scathach replied with a small smile.

For the next few minutes, the group continued to talk about the trip to Heaven, while a few others started to play video games and talk in smaller groups. Eventually, however, Kahlua brought up a topic that made everyone stop what they were doing and look at James with anticipation.

"So, James, who are you going to add to your second peerage?" Kahlua asked with a bright and innocent smile. "Can I join?"

"Hmm... You're at the intermediate-level of the ultimate-rank." James said while examining Kahlua. "That's not bad, but can you fight?"

"Well... Um..." Kahlua began to stammer while looking away bashfully.

"*Sigh* Yes, she can fight." Akua said while shaking her head. "But when she does, she loses her self-control and acts like a berserker."

"Akua~!" Kahlua whined. "If you tell him that, he won't accept me."

"And how do you think he'll react if he finds out during a [Rating Game]?" Akua asked sharply.

"I mean, I would have told him... before that..." Kahlua said, her voice trailing off toward the end.

"Sure, you would have." Akua said while rolling her eyes.

"On top of being a berserker, she's like crazy strong." Moka added. "She was born with super strength."

"That's right I'm really strong." Kahlua agreed with a smile while flexing her thin arms that looked as if they could not hold anything.

"Dangerously strong." Evangeline added, having experienced Kahlua's strength first hand through her hugs.

"I guess I should start giving that some serious consideration, huh?" James asked. "Well, now that the duel is over and done with, I can put some focus on it."

"I wonder who will be his second [Queen]." maria asked.

That question sparked another discussion with people throwing their guesses into the hat.

"I bet he'll ask either Irene or Evangeline." Sona said, throwing in her own two cents. "They're the strongest ones here, after all."

"What about Issa?" Cassiel asked with a teasing smile. "he's at the minor god-rank, too."

"If he picks my dad, then he won't be getting into my pants again for a long time." Moka said in a deadpan.

"Well, I guess Issa won't be my second [Queen]." James replied with a smile.

'Not that I ever considered it in the first place.' James thought to himself.

While everyone was having fun and talking about James' second peerage, yet another teleportation circle appeared in the corner of the living room. When they noticed, everyone stopped their conversations to look at whose magic circle it was. Noticing the Gremory mark on the magic circle, they expected that Rias had returned, and they were correct. However, to their surprise, Venelana was accompanying her.

Once the teleportation was complete, Rias started walking towards James. Noticing that her expression did not look too good, James calmly placed Koneko, Ravel, and Ophis down. Then, he opened his arms wide for Rias, who immediately sat in James' lap and buried her face in his chest.

"James, you should have beat him up harder." Rias said through muffled sobs.

"What happened?" James asked in a serious tone.

"Allow me to explain." Venelana said, inserting herself into the conversation.

Like that, Venelana told everyone what happened during the Gremory Clan's short trip to visit Sirzechs. After that, the bad mouthing of Sirzechs began a new. When everyone was tired of talking about Sirzechs, most, including James, decided to go to bed and James carried Rias up to his room. Another thing that James noticed while watching everyone with his presence detection was Ruruko pulling Genshirou toward the elevator.