A Good Second Start

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

The following day, Sunday evening, James called all the residents of the Mansion to gather in the training room. He felt that if he was going to bring anyone with him, now was the best time to add them to his peerage, so they could familiarize themselves with their changes before the trip to Heaven.

"Well, I'm sure you're all aware of why I called you here, right?" James asked while looking over the gathered crowd of people.

"You're gonna let me join your peerage now, right?" Kahlua said with a big smile on her face.

"*Sigh* Although you're not wrong, you're not right either, Kahlua." James said with a wry smile. "But your one-track mind is a bit..."

"You don't have to bother with her, James." Evangeline said. "You're here to ask who among us is willing to join your peerage, right?"

"That's right." James replied with a smile. "Dealing with intelligent people always makes things easier."

Meanwhile, when James said his last sentence, Kahlua began to pout. Then, she turned her gaze toward Akua.

"Hey, Akua." Kahlua said quietly. "Is James calling me dumb?"

"No." Akua replied quietly while rolling her eyes.

"Oh okay." Kahlua said with a smile. "Because if he was calling me dumb, that would have been really mean."

Akua could not help but roll her eyes again.

'He may not be calling you dumb.' akua thought to herself. 'But no one would argue if he was calling you simple-minded.'

"Anyway, other than Kahlua, are any of you interested in being a member of my second peerage?" James asked while letting his gaze wander over Irene, the vampires, Genkai, and Yusuke.

"Me and the dimwit won't be joining." Genkai was the first to respond. "Not being human would defeat the purpose of the training that he's going through."

Expecting that response from Genkai, James simply nodded while Yusuke glared at Genkai.

"Hey, Old Hag." Yusuke barked. "What gives you the right to decide for me?"

"Because you're not strong enough to say otherwise." Genkai replied nonchalantly.

Naturally, everyone began to tune out the two's bickering, as it has become a rather normal occurrence.

"I'm interested, but I have a few questions." Evangeline said with a serious expression on her face.

"If you didn't, I would find that strange." James replied with a smile.

"If I become a devil, will I keep my child body?" Evangeline asked.

"I figured that would be your question." James replied. "Honestly, I'm not sure. But what I do know is that even if you were to take on your child form, you would age until your body reached maturity at a natural, or maybe slightly faster, pace."

"Not ideal, but better than what I'm working with right now." Evangeline said while supporting her chin with her right hand.

"My question is similar." Irene said, after Evangeline began to consider. "But since I've had the goal of becoming human again, becoming a devil feels like I'm giving up on that."

"Well, that's true." James replied with a wry smile while scratching the side of his head. "But you wouldn't be a dragon anymore, at the very least. Instead, you'd be similar to the Extinct Bune House of the 72 Pillar Houses. They were devils who could tame dragons and turn into them as well."

"I see." Irene said, falling into contemplation much like Evangeline did.

"I'd like to join." Akua stepped forward and said in a firm voice. "If the weakness to sunlight would no longer hinder me, but not until I've determeined if you are truly worthy of dedicating my life to."

When Akua said that, Kahlua and Kokoa also looked at James intently. Issa, though not as blatant as his daughters, also let his gaze land on James. Even Evangeline paused her considerations long enough to hear the response.

Instead of answering immediately, James looked at Moka.

"Don't' look at me, I never had that weakness in the first place." Moka said with a shrug and a smile.

Then, James turned his attention to Gasper.

"Me... Neither... I'm a dhampir." Gasper stuttered out. "I didn't have that weakness either."

"*Sigh* Theoretically, since your race would be converted from vampire to devil, you should lose that fatal weakness." James said, beginning to explain. "However, since the vampires are quite the proud race, I don't know of any vampires being converted willingly. And as for those who were forced to convert, I'm not sure."

The vampires all fell silent after hearing James' explanation. Even Kahlua's enthusiasm dimmed a little.

*Clap!*

After a few moments, Moka smiled and clapped her hands, drawing all the attention to herself.

"Wow, now I see why James likes to do this, it feels awesome." Moka said.

"See?" James said with a smile of his own.

"Get to the point." Akua said.

"Right. Sorry." Moka said sheepishly. "Ahem! Why don't we find someone to reincarnate Dad first. Then we can send him out into the sun and see if it's safe for the rest of you."

While Evangeline and the Shuzen sisters nodded in agreement, Issa was dumbfounded for a moment.

"The hell?" Issa exclaimed in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Of course." Moka said without shame. "As a father, isn't it your duty to make sure your children are safe?"

Akua, Kahlua, and Kokoa nodded with fervor when Moka made her argument. Issa could not find the words to argue with that statement either.

"Ooh, that girl can hold a grudge." Irene said while watching the spectacle with a smile.

"Well, it hasn't been that long since she found out the truth." Leona said with a smile. "Besides, she's going kinda easy on him in my opinion."

"True." Scathach added. "Had it been you or James, Issa would have broken down in tears long ago."

"Probably." Leona replied with a shrug. Then, she looked at Cassiel with a loving smile.

Although Leona's smile was pure and full of love, Cassiel felt an inexplicable fear while cold sweat began sliding down his spine.

"And if I did what he did, I would deserve it." Cassiel said in a righteous tone.

Leona nodded in satisfaction after hearing Cassiel's response. Then, she turned her attention back to the arguing vampires. Eventually, it was James who broke up the discussion.

"Well, since none of us are sure of what would happen, why don't we ask an expert." James suggested.

Then, James created a communication magic circle on his hand and placed it against his right ear. After a few moments, the magic circle glowed a bit brighter, signaling that the connection was completed.

"Hey, Grayfia, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." James said with a smile. After hearing Grayfia's response, he continued. "We've got a question about [Evil Piece] reincarnation. Do you think you could help me get in touch with Ajuka? … Sure, I'll be waiting... Thanks, Grayfia... Okay, talk to ya later."

"I guess after defeating the current Lucifer, it's only natural that he can have someone get into contact with one of the Satans for him." Issa said, hoping that his daughters would forget that they were considering sacrificing him in the name of science.

"He should be considered the strongest devil in the Underworld, now, right?" Mizore asked. "My man is the strongest. Kaa-San is gonna be jealous."

"Are you sure you want to tell her about that?" Moka asked with a mischievous smile. "She might start talking about the whole communal husband thing again."

"I don't think you need to worry about that." James said with a wry smile. "I gave Yasaka access to the duel. On top of that, I'm sure every faction had spies that were watching the duel and recording it for their real factions."

"Wait a minute." Moka said, causing many of the conversations happening in the training room to pause. "Kokoa, are you not interested in becoming a devil if there are no issues with sun light?"

"Moka, James is not the only devil who has space open in their peerage." Kokoa said while rolling her eyes. "Ravel asked me to join her peerage a long time ago. She probably would have asked the others, but she's only at the peak of high-rank. So, she can't reincarnate anyone else."

"Don't make it seem like I'm weak, Kokoa." Ravel said with a pout. "Other than James and his group of monsters, you'll find it hard to find another sixteen year old as strong as me."

"Yeah, yeah, Ravel." Kokoa said dismissively. "You're so~~ strong."

With that, Ravel and Kokoa began bickering like longtime friends.

"When did they get so close?" Moka asked in confusion.

"I don't know, but it looks like the Kitty Cat and Maria are part of the group, too." James said as Koneko and Maria went to egg on Ravel and Kokoa.

"Does it matter?" Kahlua said as she wrapped her arms around James' right arm. "It's nice that she has friends her age."

"You're right." Moka said with a nod. Then she turned to Kahlua and spoke again. "But why are you clinging to James?"

"Because everyone else looks so comfortable when they do it. So, I'm doing it too. And it's quite comfortable, actually. I need to try sitting in his lap, too."

For some reason that James could not understand, Kahlua's statement led to all the girls who were either intimate with him or hoped to be so, gathering around him and talking about how much they enjoyed sitting on his lap. Even Ophis showed up and listened to the conversation, though she did not speak a word.

'What's wrong with these crazy women?" James thought to himself. 'More importantly, why are they holding on to me? This is not a conversation that I want to be part of.'

Luckily, or unluckily, James only had to sit throught that conversation for around twenty minutes Because Scathach informed everyone that Grayfia was teleporting into the barriers around the mansion. However, twenty minutes seemed to be more than James could handle, as his eyes seemed to be devoid of light.

"Young Master James, everyone, it is nice to see all of you again." Grayfia said as she entered the training room with a bow.

"*Sigh* I know you're in work mode, Grayfia." James said as he quickly distanced himself from the girls. "But it's okay to loosen up when you're here."

"Sweetie, there's no point in beating a dead horse." Leona said with a smile. "The Gremorys have been telling her that for centuries."

After politely declining James' suggestion and completely ignoring Leona's comment, Grayfia informed James that she was going to connect to Ajuka with a communication magic circle, much like the one used to speak with Mephisto Pheles when the topic of magician pacts was brought up.

Then, once the communication was set up, they spent the next two hours listening to Ajuka explain exactly how the reincarnation from other races into devils worked. To make a long story short, they had nothing to worry about. The vampires would be fine under the sun, just slightly weakened like devils are.

"But what about my issue?" Evangeline asked. "Will I be a child or an adult?"

"Your case is special, Miss McDowell." Ajuka said. "Your soul is much older than your physical body. Therefore, when reincarnating to a devil, your physical body will take on an appearance somewhere between the two..."

"So, you'll be an adult, Evangeline." James said, interrupting another one of Ajuka's long winded explanations. "You'll end up with a body that is a bit older than the age of maturity. So, you'll look about twenty-three to twenty-six, or so."

"I can live with that." Evangeline said with a happy smile on her face. "Then, she dropped her transformation magic and reverted back to her ten-year-old form. "Anyway, what are we waiting for? Let's get on with this reincarnation."

"Well, it looks like there are two takers, so far." James said with a smile. "Any more?"

"I've made my decision as well." Irene said, stepping next to Evangeline. "So long as I'm not a dragon, I won't feel ashamed to meet her again."

James smile widened when he heard Irene.

'My second peerage will have two minor god-ranked beings as well.' James thought to himself. 'This just keeps getting better and better.'

The last to step forward was Akua. However, she did not agree to join his peerage.

"Although I am leaning towards joining your peerage, I'll need more time to determine if you're someone worth dedicating my life to." Akua said while staring into James' eyes.

"I understand." James replied with a nod and a solemn expression. "But you shouldn't wait too long, Akua. Because I have no intention of waiting for you to decide. Once the [Evil Pieces] are allocated, that's it.

"I understand." Akua said with a nod. "But I still would rather understand you better."

"Fair enough." James replied with a shrug. Then, he turned his gaze back to Ajuka. "Alright, thanks for your help, Ajuka."

"Don't mention it." Ajuka replied. "Then, if you'll excuse me."

With that, Ajuka ended the communication. Then, Grayfia planned to leave as well. However, before she could go, she was stopped by Issa.

"Lady Grayfia, am I correct in assuming that you have a set of [Evil Pieces] as well?" Issa asked.