Mephisto Pheles

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

The rest of the week after Sona introduced Loup to everyone went by without further incident. However, one thing did happen. The six parts of Excalibur that the church had were forged into one and delivered to Xenovia in the form of a sheath for Durandal. No one doubted that this was only possible thanks to Excalibur Mimic's abilities. Unfortunately, Xenovia was almost completely unable to use five of the six powers that made up the new Excalibur.

Other than that, nothing of note happened. Today, however, was the day that each of the devils in Kuoh would be briefed on the significance and procedure behind signing a pact with a magician. Because of that, even Cu Chulainn and Shion showed up at the MMA Club, which was closed for today, after the final bell of the school day rang.

"How the hell did Dante and Lady get out of this" Cu Chulainn asked in a disgruntled tone.

"Seriously." Mizore chimed in. "They shouldn't be exempt from this as members of the peerage."

"I don't even know why Dante would want to." James replied. "Any money or payments Dante received from his contractor would be his and his alone. I couldn't do anything to confiscate it."

"Speaking of confiscating his money..." Moka said with a smile. "How is his debt repayment going?"

"Oh, after a few months of putting all his payments from me into it, it's almost paid off." James replied with a smile. "As long as his shop isn't destroyed again in the next three weeks, it will be paid off completely."

"It sounds like you just raised a flag." Mizore pointed out.

In response, James just shrugged.

"Who knows." James said with a smile.

"Anyway, that doesn't explain how Dante and Lady got out of this." Cu Chulainn said, returning to the main topic.

"Oh, Dante said that being called by magicians while he was on a job could result in him failing the job." James replied.

"And what about Lady?" Shuna asked.

"Because of her father, she doesn't really trust magicians all that much." James answered.

To that, everyone nodded. They had all heard about what Lady's father, Arkham did to her and her mother, all in the pursuit of power.

Like that, James and his peerage chatted in the MMA Club until it was their turn to talk to the head of the Magicians Association. They knew that they would be the last to hear from him or her. However, they were beginning to get impatient.

"Damn, what's taking so long?" Cu Chulainn asked. "There are a lot of things I could be doing right now, instead of just waiting here."

"That last text you got must have been from Tsubaki, huh?" Moka asked in a teasing tone.

"And so, what if it was?" Cu Chulainn said in an overly defensive tone.

"Oh, nothing~. Nothing at all~." Moka said in a sing-song tone.

"Anyway, I'm sure the others had a lot of questions about the process." James said, answering Cu Chulainn's question. "This is new to most of them, especially the members of Sona's peerage. Since none of them went through Auntie Venelana's devil education."

Being reminded of that experience, Mizore and Cu Chulainn shuddered for a moment.

"It's amazing how that sweet lady could turn into such a demonic headmistress." Mizore said.

"Seriously." Cu Chulainn continued. "When it came to schoolwork, she was a real devil."

"Uh... She's a real devil regardless." Moka interjected.

"You know what I meant." Cu Chulainn said while rolling his eyes.

"Even if they had questions." Mizore said, shaking off the memories of Venelana's no nonsense approach to education. "I bet most of the questions came from Hyoudou. And a lot of them were stupid, too."

"Are you ever gonna lay off on taking pot shots at that guy?" James asked with a wry smile. "He's not that bad. He hasn't even stumbled into the baths when you girls were in it yet, right?"

"I guess... that's true." Mizore said in an uncertain tone. "I guess I just can't get over my initial impression."

"The only reason he hasn't tried that yet is because James would sense it." Moka said.

"That's a possibility as well." James said, maintaining his wry smile.

Before the conversation could continue, a magic circle, that Scathach had drawn after arriving in the MMA hall this afternoon, lit up. When it did, a hologram of a middle-aged man with red and blue hair, a blue left eye, and red right eye, and giving off a mysterious air similar to that of Ajuka Beelzebub flickered into existence over the circle.

"Mephisto Pheles, it's been quite a while." Scathach said after recognizing the middle-aged man in the hologram.

"Mephisto Pheles?" Shuna asked. "The one who made a pact with the original Georg Faust?"

"That would be me." Mephisto said with a smile, that took the edge off his mysterious vibe. "It certainly has been a while, Scathach. I never thought I would see you roaming outside of the Land of Shadows in this lifetime."

"All I can say is that I was blessed with an extremely talented disciple." Scathach said with a smile as she glanced at James.

"Indeed." Mephisto replied with a nod. "Although I haven't returned to the Underworld in ages, I've still heard about the strongest member of the current generation and his peerage."

"So, the rumors that you stayed in the Human World after Faust's death because you didn't see eye- to-eye with the original Satans was true, huh?" James said while stroking his chin.

"That's more or less correct." Mephisto replied. "Anyway, let us get down to business. There were a lot of newcomers to devil society in the two previous meetings, so it took longer than I expected."

"Sure, I'll answer any questions the members of my peerage may have later." James said with a nod. Then, he turned his attention to his peerage. "You guys should take notes. That way, if you have any questions, I can answer them for you later. I'm sure Lord Pheles has a busy schedule."

They all nodded in response. However, only Moka and Shuna pulled out notebooks. James could only sigh at that. He knew he would be bombarded by questions later when they were going over the offers from magicians.

"Alright." Mephisto said as he noticed that everyone seemed to be ready for his explanation. "We from the Magician's Association informed the magicians under our supervision about you all, as well as the young devils under Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri. Usually, we would wait until you were fully matured devils to begin introducing pacts, however, with the strength you have all shown, we thought that there was no tangible reason to put it off."

Mephisto then paused, giving the devils a moment to absorb what he had said.

"Most magicians seek pacts with devils to either raise their status among the magician community, increase their own power, or further their research." Mephisto began to explain. "However, not all of them are top tier magicians that would suit you. In fact, with your strengths, there are very few magicians that would suit any of you."

As Mephisto finished, he could feel the pride rolling off the young devils in front of him. And to be honest, they had the right to be proud. To reach the levels of strength that they have in such a brief time is praiseworthy. After that, Mephisto explained what the group needed to know for a while longer. Then, he bid them goodbye. After Mephisto's hologram disappeared, a stack of documents appeared in his place.

"Are those all applications for pacts?" Mizore asked. "That's a lot."

True to what Mizore said, there were three stacks of documents. And they all reached the height of Mizore's shoulders, who stood at 5'1" (1.55 m).

"Well, let's get these sorted by individual." James said, taking charge of the situation. "After that, we can teleport them home, and head home ourselves."

"Okay/Got it/Roger/Understood." James' peerage replied in their unique manners.

'We need a standardized response for situations like this.' James thought to himself as he began helping with the work.

After about an hour, the group of nine finished sorting the applications. When they did, it was no surprise that James had received the most applications, Just as Rias and Sona had. The reason was the same, as well. Most of the magicians that applied for a pact with the [King] of a peerage thought that they would be able to control the entire peerage if they made a pact with the [King]. James would almost immediately discard those kinds of applications.

After James, Scathach received the next most applications, thanks to her knowledge of Norse runes, she was quite popular. Then, it was Shuna, Mizore, Cu Chulainn, Moka, Shion, and Ayame.

"Damn, going through paperwork is a pain in the ass." Cu Chulainn said in a slightly fatigued tone.

"Don't think that we're done already." James replied. "When we get back, we're all going to have to go over these applications seriously. You don't want a shitty contractor, do you?"

"Ugh." Cu Chulainn grunted as his shoulders slumped. "Do we have to?"

"Actually, you don't." James replied with a smile.

Hearing that, everyone, except for Scathach, had their ears perk up.

"But if you don't, there will be more and more applications coming." James said with a bright smile. "Until you make a pact, that is."

"Wait, you mean this isn't a one-time thing?" Cu Chulainn asked with horror in his eyes.

"Nope~." James said in a sing-song tone. "This will happen every time a pact expires, or your contractor dies. Until the day you die."

"Ugh." Cu Chulainn grunted once again. "Then, can you kill me now?"

Everyone laughed at Cu Chulainn's misery as they all began to teleport their pact applications to their own rooms in the mansion. When they got home, they would all gather in the living room and begin their first screening of their pacts. After all the pacts were teleported, Cu Chulainn and Shion teleported back home. Then, James and the others began cleaning up anything they missed in the training hall. After that, they prepared to leave, opting to walk home.

"You know, it's a good thing Ravel is living with us." James said while locking the doors to the MMA Training Hall. "She's offered to help everyone who doesn't understand about the pacts."

"Why would she do that?" Moka asked curiously. "I mean, that's a lot of work."

"She said she wanted to do something to show her gratitude for helping her get stronger."

Ever since Ravel transferred into Kuoh Academy, Ravel has been joining the three peerages while they trained with Scathach. And her power has increased significantly. In two and a half months, she has raised her power from the initial-level of the middle-rank to the peak of the middle-rank.

"The girl from the Phenex House is quite talented." Scathach said. "Her talent may not be inferior to Rias or Sona's. Actually, it is probably on par with Sona's as Rias is one of the more talented individuals I have seen in my long life."

"*Sigh* Can you imagine how much stronger she would have been if she hadn't been held back by her douchebag older brother?" Moka asked.

"Yeah, she'd be a little monster right now." Mizore said. "A little monster who mightnot have a crush on you, James."

"I don't' mind another cute girl having a crush on me." James replied with a smile.

At that, Ayame's eyes lit up.

'I should start making a move, myself.' Ayame thought. 'But easing James-Sama into the heavy stuff that I like might be a problem.'

James felt a chill run down his spine at that moment. Looking around with caution in his eyes, he could not find what gave him that feeling.

"James, are you alright?" Moka asked while wrapping her hands around James' right hand and looking at him with concern in her eyes.

James shook off the feeling he was having after hearing Moka's question. Then, with a smile on his face, he ran the fingers of his left hand through Moka's hair and smiled.

"I'm fine." James said. "Let's go home, this weekend is going to be a long one. Damn paperwork..."