62- What gave you confidence?

As I was encased in ice the Gray-haired Maid walked slowly towards us with her stoic face 

But, much to the Maid's surprise, I simply dispelled the ice by transforming it back to mana and then absorbing it.

"Maid-chan! it's been a long time "I greeted the intruder with a lighthearted tone.

"We meet again… " Grayfia then looked around and asked after looking at the general situation, seeing that Rias, Akeno and Kiba only had a couple bruises and cuts she asked since she had a general idea of why i'm here.

"Sir Dusk, may I inquire as to what transpired here?" She said While looking at the head peeking out of the coffin, the destruction around Rias and her group, who are being held back by monsters.

"Sure, I was talking with the boy there, and they just came screaming and throwing things at me without even asking why I'm here," I explained as simply as I could, knowing she would have observed it anyway.

But Rias couldn't keep her mouth shut, oblivious to the fact that we knew each other.

"Stop him, Grayfia! He wants to kidnap Gasper!" I made the monster vanish, Kiba and Rias were furious, but Akeno was thinking about something.

Sigh…

"First and foremost, what can you do about it? No one, not even she, can stop me. no hard feelings..." I said, signaling at the maid.

Grayfia nodded, knowing well from her reports that I can move around quite freely. She doesn't know about the results of a direct flight but capturing Gasper should be easy for me. Rias and their group were amazed that she accepted it so easily.

Because of how easily I change bodies, I'm a bad match for her, rendering her spells almost useless. She really can't stop me if I want to take Gasper by force, and it's even worse now that I'm manipulating energy.

"And second, I'm asking him, not you; if he wants to come with me, it's his decision, not yours," I said, looking at the Dhampir. 

If she were to impose her decision on her well-loved and cared-for servants...

In that case, she'd be digging her own grave, and even Sirzechs wouldn't be able to stop her.

Gasper sticks his head out of his box and decides to speak for me after the fight is over.

"He's not lying, he asked... " He said it normally at first, but then he realized everyone was staring at him, so he went back in, followed by a 'manly' scream. 

"Why would Gasper want to accompany you?" Akeno inquired, attempting to calm things down, but Grayfia confirmed her own guess before I could respond to Akeno. 

"Is it because of Gasper's childhood friend, Sir Dusk?" Grayfia asked, trying to confirm it. 

I nodded; our raid on the Vampires was a huge deal, so it's not surprising that she knows about it.

"He can't do it! What if he does something to him?" Rias retorted, both angry and concerned, that I was taking Gasper away, 

but…  hadn't we already agreed that I could do so if I wanted? That I literally have the ability to kill him, and them, anytime and they have no way to stop me...

What exactly is she angry about? The only other option is for him to remain trapped in that coffin...

I suppose the fact that she never met Koneko made her even more protective of what she already had? Not that it really matters; they lost the rating game even with her, then went fk politics, and then beat Riser at his wedding, which was planned long ago to strengthen both families… 

… Was it that… bad? 

I'm guessing that the Boosted Gear reputation is the only reason why everything went so smoothly; no one wants to enrage something as dangerous as a nuclear bomb and that can become even stronger. 

"I see... Do you want to accompany him, Gasper?" Grayfia's stoic face made Gasper hide further back into the coffin, but he made an effort to answer the question because he really misses her.

"I-I want to see Valerie… but... my… eh, EH!? Why can't I use it? " Gasper has just realized that his sacred gear isn't going crazy and that it isn't responding...

Following Gasper's not-so-manly scream, I explained what I did to him and where I'm taking him 

Rias had no choice but to accept that I was taking away one of his peerage members and that she couldn't do anything about it.

Grayfia did her job and inquired about... well, politics, compensation, problems, details, and so on.

Which is why I say we should leave it as nothing because no one is to blame since we really got what we wanted out of this; now our fight will be known and people will focus on it, and Grayfia will get a much needed good wake up call for their spoiled princess.

Then I decided that we should leave before Grayfia could start scolding and explaining who I'm to the young Devils. 

However Rias and Kiba glared angrily at me but I don't really care because it would take them too long even if they wanted revenge, which I doubt because it is a minor matter.

They should get over it after some time… 

At least Akeno seemed to understand the situation and wasn't angry, so I decided to tell her something in return.

She seems to realize that I never intended to actually hurt them based on my actions. 

She was taken aback when she learned that her father was looking for her.

Wait! isn't this a problem for… 

It wasn't intentional…  I swear!

Well she is used to it, I guess.

I hinted to them that I found it, but left them the 'red' one as 'compensation'... let's see if cannon can speed up a little more with this, at least to ensure that no one kills the pervert because his plot armor is quite useful in fighting future enemies.

I'm not sure how it will turn out or if they will even find him; Issei has so little magical energy in him that his Sacred Gear is barely noticeable; I guess that's why he wasn't discovered earlier in canon.

Grayfia did ask for a way to contact Gasper because Rias looked worried, so I gave them a... Phone... Yeah, I think they expected something else after seeing their expression...

After that, I opened a door and we all entered my mindscape or what they call our base and wandered around for a while looking for Valerie, who was in the training room, also known as the playgrounds, with the other kids.

Their teachers were Cleria Belial and her now husband Masaomi, thanks to my changing their appearance and aura, allowing them to go for a regular marriage without much trouble, so they did talk to her as former old friends for a while.

Rias' eyes glowed with greed after seeing so many Sacred Gear users and mages around her, but she was silenced by Grayfia's glare telling her not to cause trouble.

Should I invite Sona? This location is ideal for her dream of establishing a school...

This led to the question of whether I was assembling an army, to which I replied, "Do I need to train one?" While summoning a hundred monsters from the [Ink] that was dripping from my left hand

Annihilation Maker can produce better soldiers, a fact that they were well aware of...

At some point Ophis came for cookies, she ended eating them while I carried her on my shoulders.

They didn't notice because I had concealed her aura, the kids are learning how to feel it and there could have been some complications if they felt her power. 

And the fact that they didn't expect the Dragon of Infinity to act like this helped a lot.

Ophis has been hanging out here for a while now, playing and just wandering around, getting used to the place and to playing around with the kids.

She also spends time in the white-room, which is clearly not as good as the Dimensional Gap, so she goes there sometimes

I did try to create something to dull her senses so she doesn't hear red, but it's not enough but it does help a little.

What followed was the reunion of Gasper and Valerie, which ended with a lot of girly screams and tears. From both of them. ..

Given how pleased they were with my gift, I'd say it was a success.

Fortunately, Rias recognized it as well and agreed to let Gasper stay until she needed him, on the condition that he call her every day.

Later on, there were pleasantries and other things, such as Rias becoming obsessed with a giant TV playing Anime and the Bookstore being stocked with manga and figures from various Animes...

Even Kiba and Akeno didn't know how to react because she looked like she was about to go to war a few minutes ago...

Now is the time for the group to leave, their hands full of Manga and Figures thanks to Rias, another 'condition' of hers for me to take Gasper away...

Those were created with ink so…  anyway. 

That's how our first meeting ended, with a farewell from the maid with an elegant bow, followed by the fading light from the teletransportation spell.

Rias did so as well before leaving, Kiba did look a little bit reluctant...

That being said Valerie's mental, physical and spiritual recovery is taken care of and she just needs time so… the next thing to do today is… to spar.

The most important duel with Shishou...

So it's time to focus on the training field.

And, as usual, she was waiting for me when I entered the training room.

Scáthach looked me in the eyes for a few moments before chuckling "I like them. Your eyes don't look unsure and hesitant, they were always looking for a way to do something against me, and now they appear.... confident." Her warm smile and soothing tone of voice were followed by her summoning her spears...

"It would seem that you have discovered the something you were looking for." She appears happy, curious, and also eager for our fight. 

"Show me Ahmya, what gave you such confidence." She declared and then disappeared from my vision right after.

The battle started as soon as she said that.