Only a couple days after the graduation, and Alex was sitting in the living room of the dorms with several people, as they waited for more to show up. The current attendees, were Rias, Sona, Ravel, Sairaorg, Vali, Dulio, Valerie, and Wukong. Yu Long was also present, but in mini dragon form. As they waited they were chatting about the news that was released right before the graduation.
They had announced that in order to better foster peace between the factions, they will host a tournament that individuals who still hold hostility against each other can fight in. This way they could settle their grudges, and it was a way to allow those who wanted to fight strong opponents to do so without causing conflict. It was named after the person who originally started it, but left to fight Trihexia. It was appropriately called the Azazel Cup.
"So do you plan to participate?" Vali asked Alex with a gleam in his eye. At the question Sairaorg, Dulio, and Wukong all paid more attention. Alex laughed lightly, and replied,
"I'm planning on it, but I haven't put together my entire team just yet. I'm got a few people in mind, and I might ask one or two from those gathering today." At his words Vali looked even more interested, while Sairaorg looked ready for a rematch against him. Wukong laughed and said,
"Well I suppose I should use this tournament to see if my disciple is ready to surpass me." At his words Vali, Dulio, and Sairaorg looked even more interested, as they all anticipated a fight against the elder monkey. The others didn't look so thrilled, but with the exception of Valerie, they were all participating as kings in the tournament as well, even Ravel. She then spoke up,
"Im planning to participate, but mostly as a form of training for my peerage. As they are now, I don't harbor any real hope of placing very high, but that doesn't mean we can't see where we stand. And, I've even got some help for the tournament as well." As she finished her words, Ravel looked over at Valerie, who smiled in response as she had accepted the position of Ravel's last bishop for the tournament. The piece itself was still empty though. The conversation was then brought to an end, when the people they had been waiting on arrived.
After welcoming all the new arrivals, Alex then transported them to Asora, where they were joined by the four representatives, and they were able to start what he wanted to talk about. He looked out among all those present, and knew that they would be the best hope for keeping this world safe from the future travelers. Sitting in front of him was every current Longinus possessor, including the former Khaos brigade members Cao Cao, Leonardo, and Georg, as well as the recent Longinus possessor Lint Sellzan, who now possessed incinerate anthem after Walburga died with the evil dragons. There was also Dulio, Tobio, Lavinia, Valerie, Vali, Sairaorg, and the possessor of two Longinus, Mitsuya Kanzaki.
Every one of the rookies four was present along with Sairaorg, Rias, Sona, and Seekvaira. Then two members of the current dxd, Sun Wukong, and Yu Long. And finally the newest addition, Vasco Strada of the church. Serafall, Yasaka, Barakiel, and Gabriel stood to the side until they were needed.
They all looked at Alex with curiosity, wondering why he called them there, though the ones who were in the know already knew. Alex took a deep breathe, and started talking,
"Welcome all of you, and thank you for coming. I asked each of you to come here today, so that we can prepare for the potential crisis starting in a little over a year." At his words several of those that didn't know what he was talking about were severely confused, while the others were listening intently, waiting for him to continue.
"You see I'm part of a group that was given the chance to participate in a very dangerous game. It involves moving between worlds to fight the other contenders, and the last one left gets a prize. Part of the game, is that when we fulfill certain conditions we can receive amazing powers. For a basic example, given enough time I could slowly collect a perfect replica of all the Longinus powers for myself." As he stopped to let his words sink in, everyone had different reactions. The first to speak up was Cao Cao.
"Wait, are you saying that there could be multiple people out there with the "true Longinus"?" Alex nodded and replied to everyone's dumbstruck looks,
"Yes, I didn't get my boosted gear that way, but it is possible that you could face a whole group of holy spear users at once in the future, though as I said that's just one possibility. There could be a small army of boosted gear users, divine dividing users, or there could just be an entire group of different Longinus users together. Or the even bigger possibility, there could several people with abilities that outclass even the Longinus."
As these words sank in, there was a lot of different reactions in the room, some like Vali who would follow him, were looking pumped to fight them, Cao Cao looked as if he was thinking of the possibilities while also looking excited. Wukong then asked,
"Why would they want to come here?" Alex then coughed awkwardly at the question, and said,
"Possibly for one of the same reasons I did." They all continued to look confused, until Alex pointed at Rias. He then explained,
"Some of the worlds we have information about prior to going there, though it was in form of entertainment. This world was one of those worlds, and was famous for having tons of beautiful women. Though I plan on taking many of them with me, there's the possibility of several people coming here to find them, and depending on their personality, they might go on a rampage when they find that they're not here anymore."
When they heard his reasoning for the other travelers, as well as his own reason for coming here, many of the people gathered looked at Alex with varying degrees of amazement. Then Vasco Strada asked,
"So why are you informing us of this?" Alex nodded at his question and answered swiftly, as if he was eager to change the subject.
"I wish that after I leave, those of you that stay will protect this world from them. Think of it as a new wave of terrorists, requiring a new dxd. But due to the circumstances around this, you can't tell anyone in the world. At the moment we are in my personal world, so we can talk about this, but once you return you can't tell anyone." They were all silent as they absorbed what he told them, and as Alex expected, some were actually anticipating when they would get here so they could fight them. Georg then asked,
"So are there different types of magic in these other worlds?" Alex nodded as the expected question came. He already figured that one or two would want to investigate the other worlds more than stay and fight, but Alex was already a step ahead of him.
"First of all, only those who are willing to follow me will go with me. Though a couple of those already going don't fall under that category, I plan to remedy it before leaving." At his words Vali smirked, as he knew Alex was referring to him. Alex then continued,
"I do plan to return someday, and with the information we bring back you should be able to study it then. I already have two capable magic researchers going, so there's not really the need for another one. Plus with those arriving, they should use different magic than here, so if you pay attention you should be able to pick something up." Georg didn't look satisfied with Alex's words, but he didn't argue against them other. Tobio then asked,
"So you're taking some people with you?" At this everyone looked somewhat interested, and Alex replied,
"The ones going already are Rias, Sona, Ravel, and Sairaorg with their peerage, Vali and his team, Valerie, and the four here with me. I won't argue taking one or two more, but we can't simply abandon the world and leave it defenseless, plus I already said that I'm in charge once we leave." Everyone took in this additional information, then they were surprised when someone spoke up.
"I would like to go as well." They all turned to see Lavinia raising her hand. Tobio looked surprised for a brief second, and Vali looked conflicted as someone that was like his older sister volunteered to go with them. As if knowing what he was thinking, she looked at Vali and smiled before saying,
"I wish to look after Va-kun when he leaves, as I know he'll probably submerge himself in either fighting or training if he's not looked after." Alex had to stifle his laughter as Vali gave him a death glare, but several other people tried to keep from laughing as well, making him sigh in resignation. He was about to try and persuade her to stay, when Alex interrupted him.
"I would also like it if you can come Seekvaira." Everyone looked at her in surprise, as of all of those there they didn't expect him to pick her out. Seekvaira herself didn't seem to know how to react, and simply asked,
"Why?" Alex answered her,
"Because with your time abilities and strategic capabilities I think you'd be the best person to run the training facilities we're building. Plus as several of the worlds will have mechas instead of magic, you'd probably love to be there as well." When Alex mentioned her weakness of mechas, Seekvaira was undergoing an obvious struggle, as she contemplated going and staying. Eventually she looked over at Sairaorg, who was also leaving, and replied,
"Very well, I'll go with you. I've also been looking into how to better create training programs, since you showed me that it's better to use my time manipulation for that." Alex sighed in relief that she agreed to go, and started discussing the other important details they needed to know.
After a while Alex returned them all to the human world, and they all went their separate ways. But all of them had decided to do as Alex asked, not for noble reasons like it was the right thing, not to protect each other, not for justice, but because none of them liked the idea of invaders from other worlds doing as they pleased in their own world. Before they left though, Alex called back a couple of them.
"Vasco, Lint, can I talk to you in private for a moment?" The two then followed Alex, Ravel, and Valerie into another room, slightly curious what he wanted to talk to them about.