183 No Matter the Dangers

Underworld, Satan Territory, Capital City Lilith.

Three days have passed since the battle with the Hero Faction. In those three days, Serafall, Azazel, and Yasaka were able to iron out all the details for the alliance. Unfortunately, Yasaka did not have enough time to have a date with James. But the securing of an alliance made up for that. Today, Serafall returned to the Underworld to discuss the happening in Kyoto with the other three Great Satans.

"So, Indra is backing a member of the Khaos Brigade?" Ajuka asked.

"That's what Jay-Kun said." Serafall replied with a nod. "And I know he would never lie about something that important."

"We're not doubting the truth of his words, Sera." Sirzechs said with a smile. "But how did he find out about it?"

"He said Sun Wukong told him." Serafall said.

"Then, there's no doubt." Ajuka said. "The Victorious Fighting Buddha is well known as Indra's agent."

"So, then if we encounter him, does that mean we can only imprison him?" Falbium asked.

"That's where the problem is." Serafall said with a slight frown.

"What problem?" Falbium asked.

"Jay-Kun said that he's going to kill that Cao Cao the next time he sees him." Serafall said. "And..."

"*Sigh* I guess he's too young for the position of Ultimate-Class after all." Cutting off Serafall, Sirzechs said as if his expectations were not lived up to.

"I think you should let Serafall finish before jumping to conclusions, Sirzechs." Ajuka said while shaking his head.

'Is he seriously trying to have his title stripped after all this?' Ajuka thought incredulously. 'Especially after all he's done for the Underworld that helped in forming these alliances.'

"Seriously, Sirzechs-Chan, that was really rude." Serafall said with a pout.

"Sorry, Sera." Sirzechs said with a smile. "It's just the Hindu pantheon isn't an enemy we can afford to have right now, so I overreacted a little."

In response, Serafall only stared at Sirzechs with a smile.

'I guess even Serafall is starting to see through Sirzechs' inner thoughts as well.' Ajuka thought as he observed Sirzechs and Serafall's exchange.

"Anyway, like I was saying." Serafall said, addressing all three of the men in the room once again. "Jay-Kun wants to kill that Cao Cao guy because he tried to kidnap Kunou, Yasaka's daughter, to force Yasaka to do something."

"So, James intends to start war with the Hindu pantheon for that" Sirzechs said in a disappointed tone. "He really needs to get his priorities together."

"Don't be a hypocrite, Sirzechs." Falbium said. "We all get that you're feeling insecure with James growing so quickly. Your pride can't handle it, we all get it. But don't act like you would be any different if Rias were the one in danger."

The room felt silent after Falbium's words. Sirzechs never expected anyone to call him out on his hypocrisy. On top of that, he could neither agree nor deny Falbium's statement. Agreeing would show off his petty side, which his pride would not allow. While he was physically unable to say that he would let things be if Rias had been the one in danger.

"Anyway, what did the Hero Faction want with Yasaka?" Ajuka asked to break the awkward atmosphere.

"According to the man Jay-Kun captured after the first attempted kidnapping." Serafall said as she rifled through some paperwork. "They wanted to sacrifice Yasaka to summon Great Red to the Human World."

"Is that even possible?" Falbium asked.

"Hypothetically speaking, if they used Kyoto's ley lines, it would not be outside the realm of possibility." Ajuka replied.

"Well, thanks to Jay-Kun, both attempted kidnappings were stopped." Serafall said.

"They tried twice" Sirzechs asked.

"Yup, the second time was when James and Cao Cao were fighting." Serafall said with a smile and a nod of her head. "They sent a large number of their elites to the Youkai Sub-Dimension while everyone was trapped in the temporary dimension created by Georg Faust, the wielder of [Dimension Lost]."

"I guess Scathach defended Yasaka and Kunou, right?" Sirzechs asked.

"That's right." Serafall responded. "Apparently she inspired Yasaka's daughter to learn the spear, too."

"Okay, let's move on." Ajuka said. "According to your report and the signed alliance treaty, everything went smoothly at the negotiation table. Excellent job Serafall."

"Of course." Serafall exclaimed while thumping her chest proudly. "There is nothing that Levia-Tan can't do."

The three other Great Satans could only smile wryly. Then, they continued to speak about the alliance and what it meant for the Underworld.

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

At the same time, the Four Great Satans were meeting to discuss the Kyoto Incident, James and the other Kuoh Academy students had all arrived at their homes from the school trip. All the supernatural students and Rossweisse met at the Alaverus mansion after arriving in Kuoh.

"It kinda feels like you got two school trips, James." Rias said with a pout. "While you were gone, we were stuck taking these boring classes that we don't even need any more."

"Well, it was your idea to pose as high school students while we're in the Human World, Rias." Sona said nonchalantly from her spot on James' lap.

Even though Rias wanted to go to Kyoto again, the real reason for her pout was the fact that Sona, and Sona alone was sitting on James' lap.

"Anyway, how was Kunou?" Leona asked. "I really miss that little cutie."

"She's good." James replied with a smile. A moment later, however, his expression darkened. "She was the target of two kidnapping attempts, though."

Upon hearing that, all the devils who were familiar with Kunou flared their demonic energy and killing intent. The newer members of each peerage were finding it hard to breathe and they had no idea what they should be doing right now. Seeing this, James and Scathach sighed in unison. Then, they both flared their own auras and forced everyone to calm down.

"Letting me finish wouldn't kill you, would it?" James said after retracting his aura.

"How do you expect us to act after hearing that Kunou-Chan was a target for kidnapping?" Reya asked with a serious expression on her face. Then, all the third years who went on the vacation during the summer of their first year nodded their heads with similar expressions on their faces.

"Well, then you should be glad that I went on this trip to Kyoto." James said with a smile. "Because I got there just in time to stop the first attempt. And Master was there to stop the second attempt."

"So, who was it?" Flora asked. Because if I ever find them, it's not gonna be pretty for them."

"Oh, the leader is already marked for death." James said with a bloodthirsty smile on his face. "They were a group of humans from the Khaos Brigade who called themselves the Hero Faction. In fact, if that old monkey hadn't interrupted me, he would have never left Kyoto."

"Old monkey?" the group, except for Rias and Koneko, asked curiously.

"He's talking about Sun Wukong." Rias answered the curious inquiries of the rest of the group. "But why does he keep saving members of the Khaos Brigade?"

"What do you mean?" Sona asked with a serious expression. "Is the Victorious Fighting Buddha a member of the Khaos Brigade?"

Rias then proceeded to tell them all about her, James, and Koneko's meeting with Bikou and Koneko's older sister, Kuroka. Then she explained that Sun Wukong stopped them from capturing the two of them.

"Yeah, but that was his grandson, or descendant, or whatever." James said. That's a good reason to stick your neck out for someone, right?"

"James, why are you taking his side?" Sona asked curiously.

"Because he's in a pretty tough situation this time." James said. "For the lack of a better term, he's caught between a rock and a hard place."

"Explain." Sona said.

"Right now, Sun Wukong is one of Heavenly Emperor Indra's agents." James said. Then after a brief pause, he continued. "And Cao Cao, the leader of the Hero Faction, is Indra's favorite mortal... Or something like that."

For a moment or two, everyone took the time to digest what it was that James had said. Then, when he saw comprehension on most of their faces, he continued.

"Now, don't get it twisted, I could care less if Indra is going to throw a tantrum because his favorite little butt buddy died." James said casually.

"Pfff!" Issei did everything he could to keep his laughter in.

Leona, Akeno, Flora, Shion, Maria, and Tomoe also had to try their hardest to not laugh aloud.

"I'm still going to kill him." James continued without being bothered by the stifled laughter. "I knew that killing him would be impossible with Sun Wukong there, though. So, I settled for taking one of his eyes."

Everyone agreed that it would be nearly impossible able to kill someone with Sun Wukong watching over them. So, they agreed with what James did.

"He's definitely gonna come back looking for revenge." Rias said in a solemn tone.

"Then, I guess we'll have to step up your training." James said with a teasing smile. "We can't have any of you getting picked off while you're separate from the rest of us, right?"

Hearing that, everyone paled instantly. Everyone except for Leona, that is. They looked at James hoping that he was joking. When they saw the most dazzling smile they had ever seen from him, most of the girls were dazed momentarily. Then, after breaking away from their dazes, they turned their heads to Scathach like the rest of the people in the room.

Then, they completely lost hope when they saw such a gentle smile on Scathach's face.

"Don't worry young ones." Scathach said with a gentle smile on her face. "I will make sure that you are able to protect yourselves, no matter the dangers you may face."

The young devils paled even further after hearing Scathach using that gentle and kind tone. The only thing they knew was that they were in for a world of pain when training started once again. Seeing their faces, James smiled brightly. He knew he was pushing them into the pits of hell. That was not why he was smiling so radiantly, though. Instead, it was because he knew they would be able to face any difficulties when Scathach was done with them. However, a moment later, his expression changed.

"Before we get to training." James said in a solemn tone. "Mizore, Moka, I have to say, I'm severely disappointed in both of you."

Mizore and Moka turned their attention from Scathach to James, confusion written all over their faces.

"Especially you, Mizore." James said without changing his expression.

Mizore paled even further. She had never seen James with this expression. Not directed at her at least. She had no idea why he was looking at her like that, but she could feel the tears beginning to pool in her eyes.

"Why? What did I do wrong?" Mizore asked.

Moka was also confused. However, she knew that James would not speak like that for no reason. So, she waited to hear what he had to say.

"*Sigh* Mizore, you told us about your fight with Heracles." James said, beginning to explain why he was so disappointed. "You went into the fight clearly underestimating your opponent. Your arrogance got the better of you, not once but twice. Maybe even more."

Mizore's face paled. She knew what James said was true. But she found it hard to take someone a rank lower than her seriously.

"Luckily, you were strong enough for it to not matter." James said sternly. "But what if he had a trump card? What if he had the means to kill you and you didn't know about it?"

James paused at that point, giving Mizore the time to defend herself. However, instead of defending herself, Mizore simply hung her head. She knew what James said was right. She also understood that she put herself and possibly her comrades in danger because she was overconfident.

"It looks like you understand." James said, still with a solemn expression. Then, he widened his focus to include Moka as well before continuing. "On top of that, I gave the order to kill. Neither of those two would have been necessary for capture. Infact, none of the Hero Faction could give us the information we wanted about the Khaos Brigade. Why? Because they were clearly at odds with the rest of them. The rest that are Supernatural beings."

Moka joined Mizore in lowering her head after hearing James' explanation.

"As members of my peerage, you disobeyed my direct orders in the midst of battle, and that is something that cannot be tolerated a second time. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Mizore and Moka said with their heads still lowered.

"Good. I hope this will be the last time." James said. "As for your punishment, for the first two weeks of Master's training, your training intensity will be left to Master's discretion. With an extra week for Mizore. Is that all right with you, Master?"

"I see no problem." Scathach replied with a nod. "Disobedience must be punished."

James also nodded. Then, he stood up, placed Sona in the spot he was just sitting in, and his expression turned into a much gentler one. After that, he approached the two girls and pulled them both into a hug.

"I know this may seem harsh to the two of you, but this is necessary." James explained. "We have to be able to work together, and I need you two to give it all you have in every battle. That includes following orders and not underestimating your opponents. I couldn't bear to see you injured or worse because of arrogance."

After Hearing that, Mizore and Moka finally let their tears fall as they gripped James' clothing tightly and cried into his embrace.

"Okay, let's call it quits for today, everyone." James said with a smile. "Tomorrow we'll start getting into the swing of things."