Part 6

  (Usagiyama Iori)

  This was the worst case scenario, being noticed by the yokai wasn't good, but now Khaos Brigade was here to kill us. I deflected an overhead strike from Cao Cao and my bde flowed in a movement destined to stab him in the thigh. He deflected it as well, the guy was a good spearman; because of his longer reach with the Longinus spear, I needed to stick to his personal space.

  Being stabbed by this damn spear would weaken me, like it did to Issei in the novel. That thing was completely cheaty, it has multiple abilities too. Witchbde was better, but I was still learning how to harness its power. I was also ripping off moves that I've seen from Rengoku in Demon Syer and applying speed and strength to them.

  In a rapid exchange of moves, the asshole parried and tried to disable me all the time. Any strike I missed was deflected with my vambraces or greaves. Cao Cao used a feint with his spear to target my head, and I moved to protect it only to be hit with a front kick that sent me skidding back.

  At that point I heard a roar behind me and saw Heracles run toward me fist first, trying to take me out. I smiled and a rge python-like snake made out of silver metal slithered from my armored back and charged the giant with its Maw wide open. It caught him by his left leg and started wrapping around him.

  “Argh!” just to finish the job I sent a jet of pyrokinetic fire at him.

  Cao Cao didn't miss a beat and attacked me while I was distracted. I saw the shining bde of the beautiful spear coming to pierce my abdomen, but I kicked the ft of it with my right armored boot, sending the spear up and kicking Chun Li style at the spearman rapid-fire style.

  From the five kicks I threw, only one broke through his defense and sent him flying in a wall. Despite that, Cao Cao was still holding on to his spear; my strength had monstrously risen due to the threat I was now facing. I saw him wheeze and reach for something, it was a vial of something.

  I ran toward him to stop Cao Cao from recovering as I guessed that it was maybe some kind of healing item. But he saw me coming and fired a bst from his spear which hit me, forcing me to tank it.

  I wasn't a Devil but I felt myself momentarily weakening; however… the Witchbde adapted and gave me a chest piece for my armor, recognizing that the artifact Cao Cao was using was dangerous. Unfortunately, this gave Cao Cao the time to recover as he downed the vial and… I saw him getting up.

  “You're stronger than I believed, Usagiyama-san. You actually caved in my thoracic cage.” Cao Cao spit a glob of blood to the side.

  I frowned at him. Entering into a stance. “You are quite tough and resistant to pain. A normal human wouldn't have been able to move because of the trauma.”

  The Chinese hero smiled, wiping the thread of blood coming from his mouth with his right sleeve. “Oh, praises! Thank you.”

  But the smile disappeared and the hero made a severe face. “Nevertheless, you have cost me an asset, Usagiyama-san.”

  The young man pointed toward where my metal snake was busy swallowing the guy called Heracles, his face was completely carbonized. Interesting my construct could be autonomous from my will that's actually good to know.

  Cao Cao continued to speak.“You just killed Heracles.”

  With a pcid look, I shrugged and said, “Nothing of value was lost.”

  The dude has killed many of the yokai in the party that I was in, after all. I was desensitized from killing; I've fought in wars in my mindscape…

  “You…” Cao Cao breathed in and out. “I will try to leave you half alive, you'll repce him when I am done with the current situation.”

  Wow, this dude thought that I was going to give him the leeway to win? How arrogant was he? Then I saw him looking at my body with interest in his eyes. With a shudder, I said, “I'm sorry, the way you said that was way too creepy.”

  Cao cao smmed the butt of his spear on the ground and fred at me. “You are infuriating, and I have had enough of your attitude!”

  I felt his touki fre. He breathed in and yelled, “Bance Break-”

  Time slowed for me as adrenaline and power from the witchbde flowed through me. I took a step with Soru. Cnk. Then I appeared instantly before Cao Cao and, without hesitation, with my gauntlet hand struck his heart instantly. Thunk.

  Before he could retaliate with the spear, I severed the hand holding onto it. Slice!

  Cao Cao looked at me with his eyes wide open and uncomprehending. I whispered to him, “Forgive me, I am not one to let my foe power up.”

  Did he think that I would let him power up? I mean, I am not a warrior, I inherited the muscle memories of a superhuman assassin. I basically attacked on reflex, knowing that sacred gear users have to focus to use their cheat super mode. Cao Cao’s eyes burned with hatred, his mouth filled once again with blood. “Gurrk… you.”

  I smiled at the young man as I asked a question when I looked at the spear lying on the ground, still attached to Cao Cao’s hand. *Hey, Witchbde, can we take that sacred gear thingy? I remember that you can interface with other artifacts like the Blood Sword*

  {The construct is bound to his soul, but I can sever the link and transfer it to our control. However, I am leery of allowing you to use such a fancy weapon.}

  Was this jealousy that I felt coming from Witchbde? I tried to be as sincere as I could when I thought, *You’re still the best, Witchbde, don’t worry. I just want to deny this asset to our enemies. Don’t get me wrong, this fight has put us on the map now… having more cards to py is for the best, no?*

  Nothing was said for a moment, until the artifact relented. {I will allow it.}

  This caused me to grin and say to Cao Cao as I was seeing his life slowly fading from his eyes. “That spear is too good for someone with the maturity of a toddler like you. I am taking it, Witchbde… take it from him.”

  My gauntlet which was still stuck inside Cao Cao lit up with golden light, the central jewel on the back of the artifact’s palm glowing an intense blue color. Cao Cao vomited blood when he heard me speak of taking away his birthright. “NOOOOO!!!”

  I felt myself reaching for something almost intangible, then… I made contact, feeling something flowing inside of me. Looking down at the spear on the ground, I held my hand toward it and… the true Longinus flew to my hand. I smiled and showed to the fading Cao Cao that I now possessed his pride and joy. “Hmm good job, Partner. That's mine now.”

  Cao Cao’s hand reached for the spear, he was crying. “No… m…y… dre…am.”

  His hand fell, and his body went sck. I think that he was finally dead.

  {His soul dispersed when I snatched the artifact from it.} Witchbde informed me that the Chinese hero would never reincarnate again.

  I shrugged and pulled my bloody gauntleted hand from Cao Cao’s body. “Again… nothing of value was lost, partner.”

  The entity sighed as if he regretted something. {Interacting with Red Sonja gave you bad habits.}

  I giggled, twirled my new spear in hand and smmed its butt on the ground. Then I saw that some of the Yokai had started fighting again; the snake made of metal came slithering toward me and… it spewed something and I felt another something flowing into my body… however this time it didn’t settle like the spear did, it was more like Witchbde devoured it and I felt a rush of power.

  “I hope you had a nice snack.”

  {I devoured the divine energy powering it and I can just reproduce the effect of this artifact with my own ability, you don’t need it.} Witchbde said with an uncompromising tone.

  “Fair enough, partner.” The snake construct was reabsorbed by my armor when I remembered that Yasaka and my allies were still prisoners of the other magician from Cao Cao’s group.

  “Oh yes, there's one st dog remaining.” What was his name again? Georgie?

  I saw him still floating in the air, he must not know that his friends are dead yet. Angels' wings sprouted from my back, and I took flight and used my pyrokinesis at the back of my feet like jet boots and flew toward him.

  # # #

  (Georg)

  This was an easy assignment, just keep the damn fox in the cage he created for it while the fighters in the team take advantage of its incarceration to finish Yasaka's forces and then leave with a teleportation circle with the remaining cult members.

  It felt normal until he had a sense of foreboding that made him look down, and he saw a fiery missile come toward him at great speed. Before it hit him, though, the missile was revealed to be the beautiful Asian young woman Cao Cao had been fighting.

  “Hi, Georgie-kun.” She said with a soft voice.

  “Wha-?”

  Thunk! Georg felt pain coming from his abdomen and stared down. The girl's gauntlet was stuck in his belly. Georg felt something being taken from him, and he felt the disconnecting sensation with his sacred gear. Under them, the area that was locked in another dimension broke, freeing the kitsune and her allies.

  He looked up at her face, blood coming out of his mouth. His foe said with cheerful delight, “Bye, Georgie-kun.”

  Another bded gauntlet came for him, but pushing through the pain, Georg used a quick teleportation spell and disappeared. He nded in the hall of the base of the main Khaos Brigade base. His arrival started a panic as some people started surrounding him.

  *How could this happen? Where are Cao Cao and Heracles?!* Georg said as he closed his eyes, losing consciousness.

  Later, he would wake to see that he was in a hospital and would be informed that both Cao Cao and Heracles had been killed by the girl called the Witch of the Bde.

  # # #

  (Tengu Guard, Sendaii Hiro)

  Thursday 1st, May 200801:09 AMKyotoYasaka's pace

  Hiro couldn't believe that he was still alive. What started as a suppression mission ended up becoming a life and death struggle with foreigners coming to the rescue of the Cult Lady Yasaka wanted gone. They were only saved because Lady Yasaka befriended a terrifying girl who swatted away her enemy with ease; at first, Hiro thought that she was human, and the girl herself believed that she was one, but the tengu doubted that fact.

  Everyone who survived was happy that the girl, Usagiyama, had saved them, but Hiro bmed her. Some of his friends would still be alive if she had gone full power from the start. But no! She had to py around with sports equipment and be goofy while killing her way into the castle…

  He will never see his drinking buddies again, they’ve been together for 100 years; Jin felt lost and furious that he couldn’t even save one of them. He watched as Lady Yasaka offered a new piece of clothing to the girl who looked like a woman of ill repute in her silver armor. Hiro looked around him and saw the lust filled eyes of his fellow guards…

  The tengu shook his head, and left the floor, making the decision to give trouble to that woman. He walked directly to the security room, two floors down, where the tengu scouts had stored their body-cam footage. Hiro smirked, he was going to sell the videos of the fight and any information about that bitch, he hoped she got ensved by one of those damn bats. He would make money out of her suffering…

  # # #

  Back with Iori…Morning

  I checked the time, it was 9:00 AM; I barely slept after I resolved the fight between the hero faction and Yasaka’s force. Now I was eating breakfast with the nine-tails, Kunou, and some of her confidants; some Uber Oni, Kitsune and Tengu.

  Kunou was feeding me and I was feeding her… that kid was super cute and I couldn't resist her in any way. The cute little girl smiled after I gave her some of my okonomiyaki and gave me her own. “Iori, say aaah.”

  “Aaah.” Kunou put the food in my mouth and it was delicious.

  I wanted a kid like her if I ever get to have one. I turned my head to Yasaka who sighed heavily and said, “No, you cannot take Kunou.”

  How did she-? Did Yasaka just read my mind? I defended myself. “I didn't say anything!”

  Yasaka grinned and said, “You didn't need to; it was all over your face.”

  The nine-tails elegantly started feeding on the smoked fish on her pte. Kunou of course had to say something childish and cute. “Iori just has to stay with us forever, mom. We could stay together all the time!”

  Hng. I put a hand on my chest. This kid was trying to kill me with her cuteness. She watched me with such innocent and happy eyes. I thought about a life being with Kunou and Yasaka, I could easily get the training in touki and magic I wanted and I still wanted to molest the nine-tails’ boobs and wake up with my face in them. She has been throwing me ‘fuck me’ eyes since I woke up.

  “Kunou… I can't stay.” It hurts me to say that somehow.

  But I doubted that the God who sent me in this universe would let me py it too safe. They pced me near the action after all…

  Kunou's expression turned desotely sad. “What? Why?!”

  Before I could answer, Yasaka interrupted me. She looked rather sad as well; or was it an act? “Indeed, why can't you stay, Usagiyama-san? Moving to Kyoto and joining our faction would actually be safer for you.”

  This was an invitation if I ever heard one; it was really tempting because the Eastern Yokai and the Norse Pantheon were the factions which were the most benign in DxD. With a sigh I put down my chopsticks and said, “I thank you for your offer… but I have circumstances that might bring trouble to you.”

  Yeah there was no way I would let anything happen to them because I decided to spurn the ROB. It seemed that Yasaka wanted to know more about my situation as she queried, “Such as…?”

  I decided to not fully lie, and mix my answer with truth. “From what my parents told me, there's a God my family is beholden to that pced us in the current location where I live. Everything they provided to my family over the centuries might be taken away by them. I didn't believe it at first, but because of my partner, I discovered that the supernatural is real. So…” I made my shiny silver bracelet jangle on my wrist.

  Yasaka showed a stunned expression, then it morphed to regret. “Oh, this is such a shame.”

  *I know, right?* I thought deep in my heart. I liked it here at Kyoto, there's cute fox girls and I have a good connection with the local power.

  But it seemed that Yasaka wanted to secure a concession out of me at all cost as she asked, “May we at least consider ourselves allies? You saved my daughter, myself and my people, Usagiyama-san, no, Iori-san. May I call you by your name?”

  She stared into my eyes with seriousness, it was intimidating. “I… of course, Lady Yasaka you can. And about becoming allies? I agree to do so with the Western Yokai as long as you are in power.”

  Yeah no way that I would help anyone who isn't Yasaka; I know the Yokai had some game of thrones bullshit going on as the cult of Hagoromo Gitsune wanted to install the evil kitsune, Tamamo no Mae, in power here; Tamamo no Mae, who might actually be free right now and causing problems down the line. This is an anime setting, if I was Hagoromo Gitsune, I would use a backup pn if my first one failed. Some random Kitsune might have been grabbed to host Tamamo I bet.

  Yasaka smirked at me. “Oh, how shrewd of you to word it that way. Nevertheless, it's better than nothing.”

  I raised my hand and stared at it, then I made a fist as I said with introspection, “If there is something that this little adventure in Kyoto taught me is that you need to be careful of everything. I fully expect my life to be disturbed because I showed off st night…”

  One of Yasaka's subordinates reacted to my sentence; he was a Kitsune with brown haired and yellow eyes, his kimono was completely bck. “Usagiyama-san, I assure you that nothing that happened st night will leak to the public…”

  I gave him a look, crossed my arms under my breasts and asked, “Can you swear to me at one-hundred percent that your opponents in your own faction won't leak my whereabouts?”

  His eyes swam in their sockets when I asked this and he finally averted his gaze from mine as he covered part of his face with his kimono's left sleeve. “No… I can't.”

  To hammer the point that I was making I looked at Yasaka. “That’s what I thought. Don't forget that the cult tried to kidnap Kunou, how did they know where she would be?”

  The nine-tails looked down into her cooling teacup. “Are you saying that we have… traitors amongst us?” She looked back up at me, she seemed to not want to believe it either.

  Kunou, who looked scared suddenly, was now holding onto my arm. “Exactly, you better start to clean house before they hurt you more than they already did.”

  I started patting the small girl in reassurance, I whispered to Kunou, “Don't worry, I will always come to save you if the meanies try to hurt you.”

  The little kitsune hugged me tighter; and I realized that I won't get rid of her so easily for the day. I wasn't even lying, thanks to the sacred gear, Dimension Lost, Witchbde was learning how it worked after gobbling it up, space manipution wasn't going to be out of my wheelhouse, I could learn to teleport or make dimensional barriers to protect myself. At least that’s what the entity told me as it learned how malleable the local space was compared to his home dimension.

  Coming and going to Kyoto should be simple once Witchbde assimites the abilities of the artifact it devoured. The only reason he can do that was because the God who sent me here loosened its restrictions.

  Yasaka interrupted my train of thoughts by saying, “What Iori-san is saying has merits, we need to perform a discreet investigation.”

  So they were going to look into it, but if those people were highly pced in her own faction, unless there was another serious incident, I didn't see them be dislodged so easily…

  The door of the dining room slid open and entering in a hurry was Jin, the tengu commander of Yasaka's guard. “Yasaka-sama! There's trouble!”

  His beady eyes showed me how panic stricken he was and I suddenly had a bad feeling. Yasaka frowned, and stood up from her seiza position. “What is it?”

  The tengu had a touchscreen tablet in his hands and brandished it. “Someone leaked the videos of the operation from st night! It is all over DevilTube!”

  Silence reigned until everyone but me and Kunou started speaking and gathered around Jin. They all seemed to watch whatever that DevilTube was; was it an analog to YouTube? The kitsune turned to me and showed anguish as what I said earlier to her finally realized; I expressly tried to not say ‘I told you so’ to the yokai leader.

  One of the female kitsune cried out, “Oh no! We need to do some damage control!”

  She was right to be afraid, Khaos Brigade and Indra, the sponsor of Cao Cao might be going after us now.

  “By Inari, can it be any worse?” I heard the Oni in the room menting.

  Smack. The meaty sound of my palm meeting my face rang in the room. “Oh, why did you just tempt murphy?” I said for all of them to hear.

  Jin actually looked sorry when he looked at me. “Actually yes, things are definitely worse… information about Usagiyama-san has also leaked.”

  Witchbde instantly manifested in my arm as I panicked, everyone around me watched me warily all of a sudden. They had seen how strong I was and how merciless I could become. I breathed in and out, calming down and thought about my options…

  Then I shrugged, when a problem presented itself, a serious application of violence was always the solution. “Ah, I guess I will have to prepare myself to kill a lot of people in the future…”

  The nine-tails slightly bowed. “Iori-san… I am deeply sorry. We put you in danger.”

  “It's not your fault, Lady Yasaka. I will have to be more paranoid and careful about my day to day life.” I am sure that I can ward off most of the danger by using the Summoning capabilities of witchbde to have some Darkling or Angelus warrior to defend me.

  But what I feared the most was Khaos Brigade and the piece of shit devils who will try to ensve me. I needed magic defenses, no I needed someone to teach me magic full time.

  “That is not enough…” Yasaka seemed to be thinking about something.

  Jin, ever the messenger of bad news, continued to speak as he showed us some kind of message board on the tablet. “There's also a discussion about the fight on Supernatural Online which discloses the name of all the participants in the operation, here look!”

  Supernatural Online? How did normal humans not find any of those websites at all? This was crazy that my fight with Cao Cao could be on the internet? I was curious…

  Yasaka mumbled, “It seems that we truly do have people working against us into our own faction…”

  Hearing that sad tone in Yasaka's voice was heart wrenching, the woman was a good and caring leader from what I saw. Why would anyone unseat her for a more warlike and evil leader? Some yokai are stupid… “I am sorry that my guess has become a reality…”

  Yasaka looked at me and thanked me with a mumble as she continued to be deep in thoughts.

  Kunou was still clinging to me, but this time she didn't seem afraid for herself, but for me as she showed a fierce little expression on her face. She had wrapped me with her tails protectively; that was so cute! I rested in the fluff, until an idea struck me.

  “Hey Jin-san, how do I get access to that DevilTube thing?”

  The tengu turned toward me and replied, “Oh you need to download a certain app on Moogle Py, let me show you, Usagiyama-san.”

  Then the tengu showed me how to access the app, but he didn't let me download it for some reason. After his expnation, Jin told me some concerning things. “So basically this is an app that will patch my smartphone to the supernatural side of the internet? And the devils are the one who created it and are in manage all of it? How dangerous…”

  This is a giant breach of security despite how useful having a part of the internet partitioned for supernatural beings. That's exactly what I said to Jin who reassured me by saying, “We know that this might become a security risk, this is why we always have separate phones, one for private use and one for work. The work phones are modified by our magician and tech support to only open the supernatural internet in a full-featured sandbox on the device to avoid the app from creating any backdoors.”

  Yasaka used this point in the conversation to give a command. “Give one of the modified smartphones to Iori-san, Jin. She's an ally of ours now, and I don't want to make it easy for the devils to be able to track her down.”

  Aww, I liked how she cared; Jin smiled at the directive, and looked at me somehow before leaving. “Right away, my dy!”

  I don't know why but the tengu might have a crush on me or something? Yasaka came to sit at my side while her confidants left the room to do some damage control. The nine-tails said in a serious tone, “Iori-san, we must unfortunately talk about measures that we will need to put in pce for your safety…”

  And over the next few hours it was decided that I would get everything that I wanted from this trip, a magician to teach me magic, and put defenses around my house at Kuoh and a direct line to the Western Yokai's leader.

  A/N: No more Cow Cow and his band.

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