"Click!"
The sports warehouse door swung open with its familiar creak. Takeyo recognized this place immediately, after all, he'd made contracts with magical girls here and received gifts from the Infinite Dragon God within these walls.
Xenovia pushed him inside with surprising determination.
"Takeyo-kun, right? I'm Xenovia. We should be quite familiar with each other by now," she said, meeting his gaze directly.
"Of course we are. Haven't we fought alongside each other?" Takeyo smiled slightly.
Xenovia couldn't possibly be,
"Well, Takeyo-kun, after thinking it over carefully, I realized I could only come to you with this request. I need you to do me a favor."
She walked toward the stacked cushions. Before Takeyo could react, she'd pushed him down onto them.
Of course, Xenovia could only succeed because Takeyo allowed it.
"What kind of favor?" Takeyo shook his head, somewhat amused.
He hadn't expected Xenovia and Tiamat to be so similar in their approach. This situation reminded him of his last visit with Tiamat, though fortunately, he'd already awakened his human bloodline origin and gained the ability to face her in direct combat.
"I want children. Strong children. Rias-buchou said that after becoming a Devil, you should pursue your desires. Being faithful to yourself is the mark of a true Devil."
"So, as a woman, I want children, as strong as possible."
"After thinking it through, I decided only you are suitable, Takeyo-kun. You're not only powerful, but also the opposite sex for whom I have favorable feelings."
Xenovia spoke while removing obstacles between them.
If you weren't so utterly calm while saying this, I might actually believe you, Takeyo thought silently.
This was classic Xenovia, direct and straightforward, no matter what she did.
"So let's have children in the future! Between us, we'll be able to produce very powerful offspring!" Xenovia said with complete seriousness.
You probably won't believe this, but there might be reproductive isolation between us. I think even Ophis would have an extremely small chance of success, considering the massive level gap, Takeyo mused.
Though he thought this, he had no intention of saying it aloud.
If you want to, and I don't object, then so be it.
"Xenovia, you're really a straightforward girl," Takeyo said with a helpless smile.
"Is that... a compliment?" Xenovia paused, caught off guard. "Straightforward? The terrible nuns used to call me a big fool."
"It is."
"Then it's truly an honor to be praised by Takeyo-kun."
"Well, without further delay, I heard there will be a meeting tonight, so let's be quick!" Xenovia wasted no more words and leaned down.
"Well... I don't dislike girls taking the initiative, but I'm not fond of being passive," Takeyo remarked.
"Really? I'm not particularly fond of being passive either, Takeyo-kun," Xenovia replied with a slight smile.
Several hours later.
"Cough! Cough..."
Takeyo coughed up a mouthful of golden blood, glanced at the sleeping Xenovia, and silently collected the blood.
He felt that if this continued for a while longer, all the blood he'd collected could be used for irrigation.
"I need to leave now. If I don't show up soon, Artoria will cause trouble for me."
Takeyo stretched his body. At his level, such exercise was barely a warm-up.
He'd been absent for so long that even though he'd told Artoria in advance he'd be going out to play, she would probably be quite anxious by now.
"Click."
Gently, Takeyo opened the sports warehouse door.
"Hm?"
However, as soon as the door opened, he came face-to-face with someone waiting outside!
A silver-haired maid stood at the door. Upon seeing him emerge, she bowed slightly.
"What has Lord Takeyo been doing here? Lord Sirzechs has matters to discuss with you."
Grayfia glanced inside naturally, though she couldn't see anything.
Takeyo had changed battlefields several times during their activities. Though they'd ended up back in the sports warehouse, he'd already sent Xenovia home after they finished.
"Oh? What's the matter?" Takeyo smiled, unsurprised to find Grayfia at the door.
Actually, it made perfect sense. If Grayfia wanted to find him, she'd only need to check Kuoh Academy besides his home.
Since he'd placed techniques around the sports warehouse, the kind she couldn't penetrate, it was easy to deduce he was inside.
On the other side, after confirming there was no one else in the sports warehouse, Grayfia sighed quietly.
"Lord Sirzechs asks that Lord Takeyo come to the meeting room."
"Originally, Lord Sirzechs wanted to discuss the matter I mentioned before, but considering I hadn't been able to find Lord Takeyo, he said that after I located you, we could proceed directly to the meeting room."
Grayfia spoke respectfully.
Takeyo was certain that after realizing there were no other people inside, Grayfia had relaxed, but she was also puzzled.
What had Takeyo been doing in there for so long? It couldn't possibly have been studying, could it?
"Alright, please lead the way," Takeyo said with a smile.
So what if you were guarding the door? The sound couldn't escape, and even if I wanted to go somewhere, you wouldn't have the qualifications to stop me or even know about it.
Under Grayfia's guidance, Takeyo arrived at the summit meeting location of the Three Factions.
"Click."
Grayfia opened the door for Takeyo, who walked in without hesitation.
As soon as he entered, Takeyo spotted a familiar face.
His gaze intersected with Serafall's, and she unnaturally averted her eyes.
Did she have a psychological shadow because of him?
Perhaps it was also because they'd played the Lord Demon and Magical Girl game too many times, which made things so awkward?
Takeyo looked around briefly. This was indeed the core gathering of the Three Factions.
Each faction had brought two of their most prominent figures.
On the Devil side were Sirzechs and Serafall, Serafall's main responsibilities included diplomacy, while Sirzechs was the Number One Maou.
On the Fallen Angel side were Baraqiel and Azazel. Azazel was the Governor of the Fallen Angels, and Baraqiel was their strongest combatant.
As for the Angel side, it was Michael and Gabriel.
Perhaps because the extremely powerful phantoms of the Ten Incarnations had once appeared in Kuoh, both the Fallen Angels and Angels had brought far more people than before.
Additionally, the guards of each faction possessed considerable strength.
On Takeyo's side, there was himself and Grayfia. On the Fallen Angel side were Vali and Kise Toshio.
Vali was the wielder of [Divine Dividing, White Dragon Emperor's Light Wings], and Kise Toshio was the wielder of [Pitch Black Blade Dog God], both were among the thirteen extant Longinus!
The Angel side was equally impressive, with Diodora and Irina Shidou standing behind them.
Among them, Diodora was the user of the God Extinguishing Equipment [Zenith Tempest], which ranked second among all God Extinguishing Equipment.
His strength was formidable. If he fought with Vali, there was no doubt he would win.
Perhaps frightened by the phantoms of the Ten Incarnations, the Three Factions had brought bodyguards of sufficient quality.
"Takeyo-kun, you're finally here. I thought something might have happened to you," Sirzechs said with a smile.
Takeyo's arrival was perfectly timed, there were still more than ten minutes before the meeting would begin.
"Lord Sirzechs, why would I be late?" Takeyo smiled.
He'd deliberately checked the time and increased the frequency toward the end, ensuring he could finish everything with Xenovia before the meeting.
No helping it, Xenovia had been too stubborn, insisting on deciding a winner before letting him go.
"Hm?"
Takeyo raised his eyebrows. This appeared to be a sign-in package for a major event?
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for triggering a plot check-in! Check-in level: Diamond!]
[Check-in plot: Gabriel's Faith!]
[Plot: Obtain the faith of the Seraph Gabriel!]
[Check-in time limit: 180 days.]
[Remaining time for check-in: 180 days.]
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for triggering a plot check-in! Check-in level: Gold!]
[Check-in plot: Lazy Diodora!]
[Plot: Defeat Diodora, the wielder of the Zenith Tempest, in a competition of lightning!]
[Check-in time limit: 3 days.]
[Remaining time for check-in: 3 days.]
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for checking in! Check-in level: Silver!]
[Check-in location: Irina Shidou's Wings!]
[Check-in time limit: 1 day.]
[Remaining time for check-in: 1 day.]
Triggering three high-level check-in events simultaneously, this could only happen at a star-studded meeting like this.
However, corresponding to the check-in rewards, the difficulty was also increasing.
Based on his relationship with Irina, wouldn't it be easy to touch her wings?
However, since Irina had wings, that meant she'd become a Reincarnated Angel. How uncomfortable.
Why didn't Michael's faith come to believe in him instead?
Takeyo decided to find an opportunity to counter-recruit Irina.
However, in reality, Irina truly hadn't placed her faith in Michael, it was slightly different from what Takeyo had imagined.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Azazel shook his head.
"So all three parties should be present now? Since everyone's here, should we start the meeting early?" Azazel said casually.
Everyone here except Irina knew his personality and didn't mind.
"No objections," Sirzechs said with a smile.
"Same on our side," Michael showed a gentle expression.
"Then let's summarize the events of the past few days. Kokabiel's actions have indeed affected all three of us simultaneously."
"I'll have Serafall-chan and her sister make a summary."
That's right, the Fallen Angel cadre Kokabiel had stolen holy swords from the Angels, and the Angels had sent people to retrieve and destroy the stolen Excaliburs.
Then a battle had erupted on Devil territory, with personnel from all three parties participating in the combat.
"Yeah, let me handle this first," Azazel leaned back and held his head, his expression quite pleasant.
"Grayfia."
"Yes, Lord Sirzechs. Lady Rias and Lady Sona are already waiting outside."
"Click."
As Grayfia opened the door, two young women walked into the meeting site.
"Do your best, Rias, and you too, Sona," Takeyo encouraged them both with his eyes.
"Mm!" Rias and Sona nodded simultaneously.
They both noticed that the person beside them had made the same reaction as themselves, then cast surprised glances at each other.
Didn't Takeyo-kun only tell me? Why did he tell you too?
These thoughts appeared in their hearts at the same time.
However, they both knew this wasn't the time to address it, so they suppressed their dissatisfaction and began the standard introduction process.
"The above is the report from Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri regarding this incident."
After a few minutes, Sona and Rias both bowed slightly.
"I understand everything. This time, the fault lies entirely on our side," Azazel admitted his mistake straightforwardly.
"However, Kokabiel on our side was also killed by Lord... No, that's not right, it was Takeyo-kun who killed him, so there's nothing to pursue personally."
"I'll also compensate both parties for the dereliction of duty I committed. Is that acceptable?" Azazel spread his hands and asked.