Meeting

While Alex was busy meditating, he was completely unaware of Lauren leaving her post for the moment, her face grim as she turned to face Jenny. The usually carefree girl also had a serious expression as her twin tails and sailer suit were swapped out for a formal suit and hairstyle similar to Lauren's. As the duo faced each other Jenny couldn't help but to shake her head and say,

"As much as I hate to say it, why couldn't she just leave things to your guy and not get involved?" Though Lauren nodded in agreement, she couldn't help but add,

"You can't really blame her though, it was like she was purposely given the one person she wouldn't be able to stand amongst the contestants. To be honest I'm surprised she didn't act personally against him knowing her track record." Jenny nodded in agreement, before glancing at the clock on the wall and sighing, it was time for Elaine's trial.

In contacting Alex and giving him specific information regarding another champion, she had broken the rules. And it wasn't like the time with Jenny where it was ruled 'no harm no foul', this time a contestant had died, twice. Because of this Elaine was to be used as an example of what would happen when one of them broke the rules regarding the competition.

With the start of her trial beginning soon, the duo left Lauren's domain and traveled together to the meeting place, a large hall that almost seemed like a cross between a modern and ancient courthouse. As could be expected of a mandatory attendance, all of the 'Angels' assigned to watching over the contestants were present, with the exceptions of a few extras and stragglers. As they made their way to the courtroom Lauren and Jenny noncommittally greeted those they passed while their coworkers did the same, before they passed through the large doubles doors at the end.

Within was a circular style room that was filled with benches with a stand in the center at the very bottom, with the bench where the 'judge' resided directly facing it. In the stand was Elaine already, her expression firm and stoic due to her resolution to accept wherever punishment she was given. No matter what, she had no regrets causing the death of her own contestant.

As Lauren and Jenny took their seats in the front, since both of their contestants were involved, they both had looks of annoyance as they heard several mutters and whisperings around them, while a few people even sneered at Elaine with undisguised contempt. Though Elaine herself could hear the whispering, she perfectly ignored it while Jenny muttered to Lauren,

"As expected there doesn't seem to be anyone on her side..." Lauren nodded sadly, and bit back her response that it was rather to be expected. Elaine's naturally cold attitude and hatred of men hadn't earned her many friends during her lengthy existence, while her several counts of directly interfering in mortal matters, when their roles were just supposed to be passive observers, meant that she had been directly scolded several times already for her behavior. As she cast her gaze over the rest of those attending however her eyes landed on one particular man who was sneering down at Elaine, before an unprecedented anger filled Lauren that even surpassed what she felt when she appeared in Alex's 'ideal world' back in Tortus. Looking around for what caught Lauren's attention, Jenny saw the man was filled with anger as well as she stated,

"I can't wait for the day I can finally come up with an excuse to erase that bastard!" A shadow of a smile appeared at the edge of Lauren's mouth when she heard that, before she was obliged to add,

"If only we weren't built to have the exact same strength as everyone else..." Jenny nodded in agreement before a voice suddenly called out,

"Alright the trial will begin now, everyone to your seats!" The muttering died out almost immediately as a figure appeared right next to the bench, his hair combed back perfectly, black suit completely pristine, and posture flawlessly straight as he called for silence. He then directed his sharp eyes down at Elaine, who returned his gaze without faltering, before saying,

"Overseeing this trial will be none other than our own creator, He who stands above all else in creation!" As he spoke the space in the bench started fluctuating while every 'Angel' present bowed toward it slightly before a new voice said lightheartedly,

"Alright already. Everyone stand straight, there's no need to be so frigid every time I show up." Following their creator's orders, all of the 'Angels' straightened themselves out to see an elderly looking man with a long beard dressed in floral shorts and an open button up shirt. They didn't need to see any lower to know that he only had on a pair of sandals for his feet before he took a drink from the coconut in his right hand. Taking his seat in a relaxed manner, their creator then looked over at the sharply dressed man from before and asked,

"Ok so what is it now? I was in the middle of a luau you know!" If they found their boss's attitude lacking none of the 'Angels' showed it as the man next to him started explaining the situation. Their creator listened patiently to what happened before showing an irritated expression and saying, "That's it? Sounds like she didn't change much of what was gonna happen to me." The sharply dressed man nodded and said,

"That is true sir, however that doesn't change the fact that Elaine directly disobeyed your orders against direct interference." The creator sighed as he knew that as well without the man telling him. Even if it didn't change the ultimate outcome of the fight, if he didn't do something regarding Elaine's actions then some of his other 'Angels' could decide to skirt the rules as well. Looking down at the woman before him, the creator said,

"Your guilt is already determined, but I'll allow you to speak before we decide anything." Elaine nodded in affirmation before saying,

"I do not deny any of the charges against me. The only thing I regret about my actions is that I didn't act sooner, and more women suffered because of it." Sighing in exasperation, the creator then asked the man at his side,

"So, our own opinions aside, now we just need to determine how serious her actions were. What were your calculations Simon?" The sharply dressed man, Simon, answered clearly,

"Out of the 999,965,275 different simulations we ran, the contestant named 'Alex' won almost very single one of those clashes with the defeated contestant. In comparison, Elaine's contestant didn't even manage to secure wins exceeding the single digits. Her actions appear to have simply shortened the battle and changed a few variables, but had no real impact on the outcome." Nodding his head in affirmation, the creator was silent as he contemplated Elaine's punishment since she had still disobeyed orders and interfered. As his silence carried however a new voice suddenly spoke up,

"You're not thinking of letting her off, are you?!" Not just the creator, but every pair of eyes turned to the man who had spoken, the same man who Lauren and Jenny had been glaring at earlier. The creator narrowed his eyes at him and asked,

"And if I was, would you say anything about it?" As the creator spoke the man paled, before their surroundings started shuddering suddenly. Throughout all of the trillions of universes in existence reality started warping and distorting, before cracks started forming as they all threatened to shatter if the power didn't let up.

"Sir, if you destroy all of creation then there would be no more contestants to fight each other. We'd have to reorganize the entire thing all over again." Simon said with undisguised exasperation. In an instant the power let up and reality started repairing itself with none of the universes inhabitants being the wiser about their almost destruction, and the creator's attitude returned to his previous carefree facade. Letting out a wry chuckle, the creator said,

"Sorry about that, got a little carried away there. Anyways, you were saying?" As he finished the creator turned his attention towards the man who had spoken out before, who was now as white as a ghost and barely standing on his feet. It had taken everything he had to remain standing under the pressure he had been subjected to, while the creator hadn't even really tried to pressure him, or destroy reality as it was known. Looking down to avoid offending him further, the man said,

"N-nothing sir. Nothing at all." The creator snorted in response and turned his attention back to Elaine, who was still standing there unfazed by what just happened. After another moment of silence the creator said,

"Alright then I've decided, Elaine your punishment will be-"

***

Without knowing that Lauren had left his side, or that everyone and everything he knew and worked for were almost completely destroyed, Alex continued his uninterrupted meditation for three days before he finally opened his eyes. For the briefest of moments a red divine light flashed through them, but it immediately disappeared as he blinked and said,

"I think I feel a little different now?" Though he hadn't undergone some kind of miraculous evolution, or obtained a sudden understanding of the universe or something, Alex felt as if something about himself was distinctively different from before. Ignoring the foot or so of snow that had fallen since he started meditating, and the roughly ten foot wide circle around him that was completely cleared of snow, yet was filled with a deep green grass and vibrantly colored flowers, Alex turned his attention downwards as if he was looking to see what was happening at the bottom of the mountain. Of course he wouldn't normally be able to see what was happening since the foot of the mountain was far out of reach of his 'Domain', however all it took was a single thought and Alex suddenly found himself looking at a small herd of deer that were frolicking through the freshly fallen snow. With his physical body never moving from his mediative spot, the deer never noticed his presence as they played too and fro, before one went to the mostly frozen stream for a drink.

His heart beating a little faster, Alex immediately turned his attention elsewhere, and found himself on an expansive plain where a herd of massive horses thundered by majestically. The plains themselves seemed to be completely untouched by the winter that they were currently caught in, supplying the horses with a never ending supply of food to help them grow strong and powerful. Alex watched in fascination as the largest horse at the head of the herd maneuvered them through the plains, steering his herd to avoid potential hazards and even predators as if it was second nature to it.

Alex then spent what seemed like several hours sending his intent all over Asora without actually leaving the place he started, exploring to its furthest reaches and deepest depths. He explored the bottom of the ocean alongside Goliath Groupers as long as a bus, flew through the skies with condors that could match even Rho-Dan in size, and even discovered hidden crevices and areas where creatures he didn't even know lived in Asora dwelled. Eventually he was shaken from his exploration when Lauren suddenly said,

'You look like you're having fun.' Immediately Alex found himself back at his body as he asked out loud,

"What happened?" He got the feeling as if Lauren was fairly good mood as she answered,

'Though you're far from becoming an actual God still, you've turned all of Asora into your 'divine domain'. Though you've still got your 'Domain' skill, in Asora it's range has expanded to include the entire world since it's bound to you and is a part of you.' Though he was amazed by what she said, Alex couldn't help but ask,

"But why now? I haven't exactly just gotten Asora recently." Lauren was silent for a moment before she finally answered,

'My guess would be that this is in fact the longest time you've spent in it since gaining your divine spark back in Tortus. You've spent all of your time in either the other world or the space-time orb until now, and you certainly haven't done any meditation or training in it recently.' Alex was silent as he recalled that when he began meditating he had been spreading his consciousness into his surroundings as well. Using his silence to continue, Lauren then added,

'And I'm sure you've noticed that you can to a lesser extend influence things in Asora similarly to your 'Domain'? Though you can't control the environment or things like the weather and seasons, you can still interact with the world to an extent with your intent.' As she spoke Alex nodded in affirmation as he had tried that exact thing when he was messing around before, like using his intent to direct the Goliath Grouper around as they swam together.

Alex then spent a few minutes chatting with Lauren about his new ability, before she moved onto his prize for defeating the fat man. Typically it was like a lottery wheel where Alex could earn one of the powers of the person he defeated, or a set amount of levels regardless of high his level already was. When he considered getting one of 'his' powers though, between the power of 'Neotare', 'Endless Sexual Stamina', 'Gaining Experience From Subordinates', or the mechanical suit 'Eros', Alex made a face and said he wasn't interested in attempting it just yet because he didn't want to risk getting any powers from such a person. Though Lauren said she could put it on hold for the time being, he would have to risk it eventually.

With the talks coming to an end, with Lauren pointedly avoiding discussion of Elaine's trial, Alex then turned his attention towards his home. Though it had only been three days to him, to those within the space-time orb it had most likely been more than three months since they had last seen him, and so Alex was anxious to see his girls and the progress they made on those who suffered. 'Seeing' them gathered in one of the lounges, Alex used a slight amount of Spatial magic and immediately appeared in front of them before saying,

"Hey, did I miss anything?" There was a beat of silence as everyone took in his sudden appearance, before several of the girls rushed him while a few others waited their turn at the side. After making sure to properly greet every one of his women present, Alex turned towards Anne and asked, "So how are things going?" When she heard Alex's question Anne became serious and pointed to several stacks of folders before explaining,

"These are the medical reports we've comprised of each of the women that we've been taking care of, filled with information regarding their current and past medical situations. In total we've had to take care of over three hundred women that had been abused by 'that' man, as well as those that he'd pawn them onto for a night or so." As she spoke Alex could hear both anger and exhaustion in her voice as well as see it in her face and posture, with the same being said for most of those surrounding them. As could be expected they were angry at the fat man for how he had treated the women around him, and they were exhausted because of them having to work and use Age of Gods magic almost constantly for the last three months/days.

Age of Gods magic drained a person of their reserves faster than any other magic any of them had. Thanks to their connection to the system the girls in Alex's peerage didn't usually have to worry about this with their skills related to increasing magic power reserves and recovery, however using it on more than three hundred women every single day for three months had left them more than a little fatigued, to say nothing of those who didn't have access to the system like Asia, Valerie, and Kaori.

Though he felt more than a little guilty going off to sit and meditate while everyone was working hard, Alex didn't show it as he simply said to them with a gentle expression, "Thank you all for your efforts. I'll be sure to make it up to each and every one of you when I'm able." Just like Yue and Kurumu when he made similar promises to them, each girl had an expression on their face that told Alex that he better be sure they'd cash in on his promise.

Smiling wryly, he then sat down on the couch and grabbed one of the folders to give a few of them a once over before entering the space-time orb himself, and was surprised to see that it was none other than Lala's. The first page was a compilation of Lala's general information and physical medical history, but after that it changed to a record of notes regarding her progress and mental state. Looking at the most recent log Alex read that after continuous Sprit magic treatments she seemed to have returned to her former happy and carefree self when she was around others, yet her family reported that when she slept at night Lala was prone to crying and calling out Rito's name in her sleep, while also not seeming to recall doing so the next morning.

Putting the file back from where he grabbed it, Alex picked up another one regarding someone else that had shown similar progress, seemingly ok around others but being silent and brooding when they thought no one was watching. Though he didn't go through all of them, of the files Alex did go through this seemed to be the case for the most part, however there was also a very small amount of girls that had seemed to make a full recovery already, while some others were still badly effected by what happened.

Of the latter the typical cases were like those of Run or Satellizer, aka Stella. Run was more depressed than most of those around due to losing her twin brother Ren, a person whose body she had even shared up until a couple short months before 'that' man had Ren killed because he loved Lala. While Stella already had a history of sexual abuse spanning several years before becoming a Pandora, resulting in her even gaining the name 'Untouchable Queen' simply because she despised contact with others afterwards.

Meanwhile the cases of the former were people who were exceptionally powerful, or possessed significant willpower, the group which Stella would most likely have belonged to if it wasn't for her own past due to her being a 'main heroine'. These people included the Pandoras Chiffon Fairchild and Elizabeth Mably, the human weapon Mea, and surprisingly the school nurse from the To Love Ru world, Mikado Ryouto, possibly because of her own past as an underground alien Doctor.

Though he only went through a few of them, Alex placed the files back where he got them before asking Anne, "Before I go into the space-time orb to meet them, how did you guys use the Spirit magic on them? It wasn't anything as drastic as erasing their memories or anything, that's for sure." Anne nodded in recognition and explained,

"We didn't want to do anything too drastic without observing them for a while and consulting you, so for the time being we just placed what was essentially windows in their minds to separate the bad memories from the rest of their brain. They can look through the window and recall the memory of they really want to, but otherwise it's just tucked away where it won't get triggered randomly." Piggy backing off of Anne's words, Kurumu added,

"It isn't perfect though depending on how strong the memory was. A perfect example is the former Devilukian queen Sephie, who killed her previous husband herself under 'that' man's influence before telling him that she and her three daughters did so together...." As Kurumu trailed off Alex nodded in affirmation that he had heard what they said, before finally saying,

"Good, that's a much better solution than I would have come up with. I was really hoping that we could avoid having to wipe their recent memories since it never really goes well, even if the person themselves requested it." If their memories had been wiped then all three hundred of the girls in their care would essentially wake up in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, and no knowledge of how they got there or where their loved ones were. The only two options from there would be to either lie about what happened to them, which would only make things more difficult due to having to keep up a massive lie, or to tell them the truth, after which they would more than likely request their memories back even if they were the ones who wanted them erased to begin with.

Satisfied with how things had been handled, Alex then stood and said, "Ok then, I think it's time I finally meet them."

***

As Alex appeared within the space-time orb he was unsurprised to find the girls restless from being told of his arrival. As it was also considered a part of Asora, the increase to his 'Domain' also extended to the space-time orb when he was in it as well, allowing Alex to view everything within that particular orb such as the entire villa and all of the floating islands that surrounded it. As he approached the courtyard where they were all gathered, Alex couldn't help but watch to gauge how they were reacting to his arrival.

"Humph! I don't like this, I don't like this at all!" Cried out a petite pink haired girl, Nana. She let out another "harumph" as her younger twin, Momo, stated with a slight smile,

"That's no good Nana, even if he's a guy he's still the one who saved us." To this however her sister merely retorted,

"Regardless of what he's done, he's still a worse beast than 'that' guy! For all we know he just helped us to claim us for himself!" As she said this several other girls around them looked up with anxious expressions, while her mother Sephie said in stern voice,

"Nana, you're scaring everyone, and you don't know if that's true or not! You shouldn't start badmouthing someone before you've even met them!" Grimacing at being scolded by her mother, Nana went silent as she sulked to the side while the others continued talking amongst themselves.

"What do you think Elizabeth?" A girl with her red hair tied back in a ponytail asked the woman seated between herself and the other two white haired girls, except one had deeply tanned skin and stood taller than most while also having quite the figure, while the other was significantly paler and had a short petite figure. The girl in the middle, who had sharp yet beautiful features along with her long and wavy blonde hair, was silent for a moment before saying to the girl that spoke before, Arnett McMillan,

"I'm not sure. While he does seem to have several similarities to 'that' man regarding relationships with women, the person who saved us does seem to actually care for his women and doesn't treat them as cruelly as 'he' did. At the very least from what I recall before being knocked unconscious he was kind, while the women that have been taking care of us don't seem to have the same fanatical tendencies we did."

As she spoke the three girls around her shuddered when they recalled being under 'that' man's influence, where after he raped them all they could think of was getting more of his cock, no matter what they needed to do to get it. Though they were all glad to have been freed from 'his' control, every single one of the three hundred women were terrified of being forced into a similar situation by their 'savior'. In response to her observation though, the petite girl, Atitta Simmons, suddenly said,

"I dare him to try anything, if he does then he'll have three hundred angry Pandora as well as 'those two' to deal with!" When she heard this Elizabeth sighed in mild exasperation and said,

"Did you forget that he already defeated all of us once? Even if we were weakened at the time he still took down all of the most powerful Pandora from West Genetics one after another, including that monster." As Elizabeth finished speaking a new voice suddenly asked from the side,

"Ehhhh? 'Monster'? You wouldn't be talking about me would you?!" The four women twitched slightly when they heard the speaker, and turned to see the undisputed strongest Pandora that had been attending West Genetics, Chiffon Fairchild, aka the 'Smiling Monster'.

With her light brown hair that reached her shoulders and her seemingly permanently closed eyes she appeared to be just like any other normal girl with her carefree and seemingly naive attitude, however, if one saw her fight they would realize she was anything but normal. Right after her enrollment into West genetics Chiffon participated in the mandatory Carnival, a free for all battle royal amongst the pandoras to determine their rankings within the school, during which she single handedly defeated over forty other pandoras in her bloodlust and battle frenzy. The bloody rampage only ended when Chiffon's closest friend, Ticy Phenyl, convinced her to stop, accidentally securing Ticy as the third place of the school rankings despite the fact that she had been at the lowest rank prior.

With Ticy next to her with her long black hair flowing in the wind, Chiffon looked at the group and asked,

"So what are we talking about to bring up 'monsters'?" Though there was nothing in Chiffon's attitude to suggest she was offended, the group couldn't help but to suppressed a shudder as Elizabeth explained,

"I was just talking about how the man who saved us also managed to defeat all of us without putting in any effort, and that it'd be useless to attack him if he did decide to 'ravage' us." When she heard this Chiffon made an expression of understanding, before saying in an uncharacteristically serious tone,

"True, but there's also his women to consider as well, I'm not even sure how I'd do against them...." As she trailed off the girls listening to her paled as they tried to imagine what kind of people it took to even make the 'Smiling Monster' say that. However she then added, "But I don't think we need to worry! I was asking miss Ravel about him before, and she told me that when he thought she was being forced to marry him against her will, he got really angry and refused until she told him that she actually really did want to marry him!"

When they heard the story behind Alex and Ravel's Union the four women couldn't help but cock an eyebrow, as in almost every similar situation it was the woman who would try to refuse an arranged marriage while the man desired it. Before they could comment on it however something else caught their attention, as a sudden breeze lifted Chiffon's skirt to reveal some exceptionally pale skin and a narrow strip of neatly trimmed brown hair. As her skirt fell back into place to hide the contents within, Elizabeth couldn't help but remark,

"I thought you just said 'we don't need to worry'? Why are you suddenly going commando then?" Chiffon smiled mischievously and answered,

"True, but that doesn't mean I can't at least prepare for the possibility. Besides, I only have so many pairs of panties that they gave me, I don't want to risk them being ruined...." As she trailed off the rest of the girls around her couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable as they were once again reminded that everything they currently had was basically a result of a charity, something that drove on someone like Elizabeth's nerves. Before anyone could end the silence though, they froze as a new voice suddenly said,

"I like to consider myself a gentleman though! Even if I ruin a girl's panties I always repair them afterwards!" Resisting the urge to jump at his voice, the six women slowly turned their heads as if they were on rusty swivels, to see a big muscular man with unruly hair and a monkey's tail standing behind them, a cheeky smile on his face as he tried to appear nonthreatening to them.

The result of Alex's sudden appearance though was a hushed silence settling over the crowd of women as they turned towards him, some with intrigue, others passive, and most showing a brief flash of fear in their eyes. With his smile cramping somewhat, Alex cleared his throat and said,

"Now then, it's nice to finally properly meet all of you ladies. As I'm sure you're all aware, my name is Alex and this is my home. If there are any questions you may have about your surrender situation, or what is going to happen from now on, then please feel free to ask." Once agin there was silence as the women contemplated wether or not they should really ask anything of Alex, before a girl with long black hair stepped forward, named Kotegawa Yui, and asked,

"Is it possible for us to go home?" When he heard that Alex resisted the urge to sigh and said,

"I'm afraid not. The ability we use to travel world's is only available after a year of waiting, and even though there are two of us here that have that ability it would still take us a whole year at the very least to move on after returning you all to both worlds that you came from. On top of that, there is also the state your world's were left in to consider." As Alex trailed off the women around him couldn't help looking depressed, even if they knew that this was the most likely outcome to begin with.

The primary reason they had left the world of Freezing so soon was because of another Nova outbreak, which 'that' man had no intention to take a part of. If that hadn't been the case, then there was the real chance that his Pandora army would had more women in it due to there being several hundreds, if not thousands, of Pandora all around the world.

Meanwhile in the To Love Ru universe, Sephie had already stated to the girls that it wouldn't be strange for another galactic war to have broken out already with the death of Gid, and with 'that' man having left the universe. With that being the case, it was very possible that they'd become targets once more in the power grab as the former members of the royal family, as well as those 'normal' girls who were closely acquainted with them.

Since pushing for Alex to bring them home also meant having him and his women fight their battles after already doing so much for them, none of the girls were particularly eager to push their wish to go home even more. As the silence stretched another girl suddenly said, "I heard that it's possible for you to bring back the dead, is it possible for you to return my limiter to me?" As she spoke several other women suddenly looked up at Alex with hope of being able to see their loved ones again, only for him to actually sigh this time and say,

"I'm sorry, but our ability to bring back the dead only applies to the recently deceased, it doesn't work if the soul had already had time to 'move on'. And while we do have someone who can bring back a person regardless of how long ago they've died, doing so puts them at risk of going insane because of the process involved, and I don't believe it's possible without going to the universe they died in." Though it could be argued that they could possibly use Spirit magic to treat Valerie as she used the Holy Grail to bring back everybody's loved ones, Alex still didn't want to put her through that simply because it was 'convenient', especially when he promised her that he wouldn't make her use the Grail when she joined them.

As silence settled once again, another girl then asked in a small voice, "So what do we do now...?" At this Alex spoke up,

"Now you look for a way to move forward. You remember those you lost, but don't dwell on the past forever. Once you're able to stand on your own again, you'll each be given a chance to rebuild here in Asora without the threat of things like Novas, or you can choose to stay in whatever world we're in to try and live a normal life. It'll be up to you."

As Alex finished speaking there wasn't an awkward or oppressive silence this time, instead many of the women started murmuring amongst themselves, with the Pandoras being especially vocal. To them the Nova threat was something that hung over them from the moment they were born, and would most likely persist until long after they were dead. None of them had ever considered a future where they didn't have to worry about a random attack that could result in their deaths. While some felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from their shoulders, others felt a sense of loss of purpose as they had dedicated themselves to fighting on the front lines for humanity. What they didn't know however, was that those who truly wished to fight might also get the chance to join Rossweise's Valkyries if she judged them to be ready after the trauma they'd been through.

On the other hand the girls from the To Love Ru universe couldn't help feeling a somewhat bitter sensation in their nose. In the cases such as Haruna, Yui, Mikan, and the other 'normal' humans from that universe, being thrown into such an outrageous situation created a sea of inner turmoil that the 'aliens' such as Lala and her sisters, as well as the others, weren't subject to. However one person suddenly shouted over the noise,

"And how can we trust anything you say!" Everyone quickly quieted down as they all turned towards the speaker, the petite pink haired Nana, who was pointing at Alex with a glare before continuing, "How do we know you aren't just trying to butter us up before you have your way with us? Aren't you just a filthy 'beast' like 'that' man?!" As she spoke both her sister Momo and her mother tried to get Nana to calm down, but the damage had already been done as the women surrounding them began whispering.

As the looks of fear directed at him became more prominent, Alex simply stood there without saying anything to Nana's concerns. Instead Grayfia and Rias both looked as if they were about to say something with angry expressions evident on their faces, however Alex wordlessly waved them down. He then looked directly at Nana and started to slowly walk towards her, the numerous women between them parting automatically before he reached them.

As Alex approached Nana's complexion paled considerably, but she didn't back down as Alex steadily got closer and closer, before he surprised her by walking past her completely. Confused, Nana turned to look back at him, only to see that Alex wasn't even approaching her to begin with, but her mother. With panic being evident on her face, even through the pink veil, Sephie tried to take a step back away from Alex but found her way blocked by the women behind her, giving her no escape.

Before Sephie knew it Alex was less than a foot away from her, her own words to Nana earlier forgotten as the time she spent on the run and shackled to 'that' mans bed due to her beauty returned to her. As she closed her eyes and began mentally assuming the worse, Alex reached up, and grabbed the corner of her veil before pulling at it so that it came loose. Sephie awaited the usual outcome, the man who saw her face becoming a deranged animal before attacking her relentlessly, regardless of how gentlemanly they seemed just moments before.

Instead, the attack never came. After a few seconds Sephie cautiously opened her eyes to find Alex staring directly into them, his own gaze clear and strong as he said,

"You are quite the beautiful woman Sephie, it's a shame to cover your face when you don't need to." As he finished speaking Alex turned back towards the dumbstruck Nana, and asked, "Is this enough to clear me Nana?" The petite girl could only stare as Alex didn't wait for an answer, and turned around to return to his previous spot. As he did so all fear that the surrounding women had previously shown vanished, and instead was replaced by awe and interest.

They were all aware of course of the circumstances regarding Sephie's veil, and why she wore one. Whenever a person of the opposite sex had seen her uncovered face they would become a lustful beast that would do anything to ravage her. She had lived with this curse for her entire life, living with an instinctual fear of men until that one fateful day when she met her future husband, Gid. For the first time in her life she didn't have to fear a man, and so Sephie did everything in her power to ensure she would marry Gid, before eventually giving him three daughters. Then, many years later, she amazingly found another person who was resistant to her charms, her daughter's young fiancé, Yukki Rito.

Now Sephie was in a state of complete disbelief as she unbelievably found a third person immune to her power, a man who was seemingly overly indulgent in his lust and desires, yet was immune to her beauty and charms. As she watched him walk away with a slight sense of awe, Alex suddenly said,

"While I wont deny that each of you are attractive and beautiful women, I have no intentions of forcing my own desires and lust on those who do not want it. You are not here for me to 'groom' or 'attack', but to try and recover after the horrible things that have happened to you. To that end, starting tomorrow you will all be given a series of chores and responsibilities in order to busy yourselves and to occupy your time until you decide what you intend to do from now on." As he finished speaking Alex turned to walk away, but stopped as he passed a certain someone and said,

"Can I speak to you in private for a moment Chiffon?"