As the meeting progressed Alex discussed a few points of interest regarding the next world he planned to visit, and the people there. They didn't go crazy developing a specific plan based off of the information he shared though, as Alex considered the world that Fairy Tail took place in to be one that several people would intend to visit, and so there was no way to know how much the original timeline of the world was changed by their actions. And, with more than half a year left until he could change world's again, the decision was made to play things by ear when they finally did go there, and to remain as cautious as possible since they wouldn't be able to know what abilities the other competitors would have.
As the discussion about the next world they'd go to winded down, Alex then said, "There's only a couple other things I wanted to talk about, then everyone would be good to go." This earned Alex several looks of relief as, while not necessarily as bad as other meetings they've gone to, everyone usually wanted these to end so they could get back to work or whatever they had been doing. Not wanting to take up even more of their time than needed, Alex pulled out three elongated silver canisters, and used his 'Telekinesis' to give them to Barakiel, Hajime, and Lala.
"These all contain a couple of the Stigmata that the Pandora use to fight the Nova from their world. A few of the Pandora have decided to hand their stigma over and become normal people, so I would like each of you to research them and learn what you can when you have time." While Barakiel nodded in affirmation, Hajime glanced at Lala and asked,
"Her too?" Alex nodded and, understanding what he was referring to since Lala did come off as a bit of an airhead, he explained,
"Lala is one of, if not the brightest mind of the universe she came from. She not only created entire virtual world's where real life beings could live without issue, but she's also invented many things using only technology that others, such as yourself, would need magic to fill in the gaps. She can even harness the power of a black hole to power some of her constructs." Both Hajime and Barakiel's eyes widened in shock when they heard Alex's words, before glancing at the pink haired girl as she beamed happily at his praise.
Despite the genius behind their creation, people typically didn't like her inventions due to their tendency to malfunction or even break at weird moments, usually creating awkward situations for those caught in the crossfire. Though Alex didn't doubt that the same thing may happen to him in the future, especially with his own 'Lucky Pervert' skill, that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate and praise the underlying genius in what she made.
And so, after Barakiel and Hajime made arrangements to cooperate with Lala in the future, Alex finally said, "And last but not least for this meeting, I intend to put Sephie in charge of foreign affairs and relations." Though it was rather sudden for Alex to appoint a newcomer to such an important position within their little government, no one seemed to have a real issue with it due to them knowing that, as a queen, Sephie would have already had experience with diplomatic relations. Instead, the only one to speak up was Sephie herself as she cried out,
"Wait, what?! Why wasn't I told about this?!" Alex casually shrugged before asking,
"You don't want to?" This time Sephie looked a bit awkward as everyone looked at her, and explained,
"W-well it's not that, but no one really knows me here so is it really ok to put me in charge of something so important?" Alex nodded slowly with a wry smile on his lips, as he said,
"I think so. If I recall correctly you were in charge of the same thing back on Deviluke, and your abilities as a Charmian make you a natural at negotiation." When she heard this Sephie could only lament silently that Alex knew so much about her past, until she suddenly thought of something and said,
"But I don't know much about Asora's policies or the people here, wouldn't I need to in order to deal with foreign delegations?" Alex's wry smile grew when he heard this, and he responded,
"True, but it'll still be a while yet until we actually need you to meet with any foreign dignitaries since we can't freely travel between worlds yet, and we don't necessarily need to establish relations with this world right now. You'll have all the time you need to study up on Asora and the people here until then."
When she heard that Sephie could only sigh in defeat as she accepted her new role in this new world. Truthfully she didn't mind being given such a position that much, especially since she hadn't really done anything ever since she entered the space-time orb, she had just hoped that she would be assigned a job that was less time consuming so she could take this chance to spend more time with her daughters. All things considered though, it could be considered a blessing that she had received a job that she knew so well, and had a talent in with her abilities as a Charmian, while she could just use the space-time orb to spend the time she wanted with her daughters and hopefully any grandchildren that may appear in the future.
As she recalled Alex's adorable monkey-tailed children from earlier that morning, Sephie couldn't help but glance at Lala and Momo with an expectant look in her eye. Lala pointedly looked away as if she knew what her mother was thinking about, while Momo's expression stiffened as she realized that, once again, she had been completely seen through by her mother.
While these thoughts drifted through her mind, Alex brought the meeting to an end while also dismissing everyone, or more specifically all of the guys except Hajime and Barakiel. Once the rest of the men and a few others had left, Alex turned towards her and said,
"Ok Sephie, could you please remove your veil?"
"Pardon me?" The former queen asked with a slightly cramped face as she eyed the two other men present warily. She didn't mind Alex seeing her face since he wasn't affected by her charm, but that didn't mean she wanted to remove her veil in front of other men. Alex however was unperturbed by Sephie's hesitation, and said with a cheeky grin,
"Don't worry, I'll protect you if anything happens!" This made her recall, for a moment, her husband Gid when he said something similar so long ago. Releasing another sigh, Sephie reached up and unclasped her veil before letting it fall to her feet after a brief flutter in the wind.
For a moment nothing happened as the two men gazed upon her flawlessly beautiful face, before Barakiel suddenly lunged forward with a crazed and lustful look in his eyes. Naturally Sephie tensed as she recalled when 'that' man would look at her and uninhibitedly attacked her for hours on end, but, before Barakiel could even get close to her Alex's foot came out of nowhere and sent him flying back into the wall, where Akeno went to restrain her father with a smile that wasn't quite a smile on her face.
"Ufufufufufu, to have your heart swayed that easily father, looks like you need to be 'retrained'~" As she spoke Akeno materialized a short whip that cracked the air a few times as she lightly swung it, before using magic to teleport away with her father. While debating wether or not to tell Ririko about what just happened, Alex then turned towards the other guy in the room and asked, "So what do you think?"
Hajime, who had been staring unwaveringly at Sephie, glanced back at him and said as his mind started flying with thoughts, "Very interesting. Of course I've seen certain people or races with a similar ability before, more specifically vampires and succubi, however they could use such an ability at will and not constantly and unintentionally. Plus if they tried hard enough then they could try to charm members of the same sex, not just the opposite. Very interesting...." As he trailed off Hajime went back to staring intently at Sephie, however, instead of desire or lust, his eyes contained only the curiosity and intrigue of a researcher.
As Hajime started muttering about the various ways to counter Sephie's charm, the woman herself couldn't help but shoot a look at Alex once she stopped trembling from what just happened, prompting him to apologize before explaining, "I'm sorry, but I figured the best way to have Hajime create an artifact to block your charm was for him to see its effects firsthand, which I expected from the beginning that he wouldn't be effected by it." As he explained Sephie couldn't help but look at Hajime in undisguised awe, as in her entire life she had only met two men able to withstand her charm, and yet within a span of days in this strange world of Asora she had already met two more.
As for why Alex figured Barakiel would be susceptible to Sephie's charm, well, he was originally an angel who fell from heaven due to his perverse masochistic nature, no matter how dignified he usually presented himself. As for Hajime, in his original timeline the man spent several months with excessively beautiful and horny women while remaining faithful to just one, before finally giving in simply because he realized that he cared for the others as well. (A.N. Guesses on the actual events that made Barakiel fall? Mine is him crying in ecstasy in the middle of battle after taking an attack)
Eventually Hajime excused himself to go start on creating Sephie's new artifact, leaving Alex alone with the girls that had stayed behind. As he stood himself to go and finish the rest of the business he wanted to deal with that day, Alex was a little surprised to find Lala quickly approaching him with a nervous expression on her face, yet another difference after the treatment she received from 'that' man. With the rest of the girls following her movements carefully, and Nana narrowing her eyes suspiciously, Lala came to a stop in front of Alex and asked hesitantly,
"Do you really plan to fight those other people for us?" Alex was silent for a moment as he contemplated his answer, before saying,
"I already planned to fight them eventually anyways, I'm just hurrying myself a little because of the things 'that' man did. I'm also planning to create a network between the worlds I visit, but it would hard to do so if every world I want to visit has been ruined by those who can travel there like Anne and I." Lala was silent at Alex's answer as she seemed to think about it, before he suddenly reached out, and started caressing her face affectionately as he continued,
"Plus I can't stand to see someone who should act one way, yet is practically a completely different person due to someone making them go through something they never should have." As he spoke and caressed her face, Alex thought of Lala as she was supposed to be, carefree and innocent with a smile that could light up an entire room by itself.
And though she had tensed when he first touched her, as he continued to caress her Lala couldn't help thinking that Alex's touch was comfortable and warm, yet she also knew that at times it would be hard and cruel against his enemies. In a way it also reminded her of her father's touch, the man who had brought the entire galaxy to heel, and had also been a caring and doting father to her and her sisters.
After a moment she took in a deep breath, before saying, "Ok, I'd like to accept your evil piece, if you'll still have me." Alex's brows shot up when he heard her sudden declaration, before asking,
"Are you sure?" Lala nodded and glanced once at her mother before saying,
"I want to help those that might be suffering the same way we were, and if possible I want to prevent someone from going through what we did! Besides, R-Rito would want me to try and be happy again instead of only being sad!" As she finished her declaration Lala attempted to flash Alex a smile, showing him she was confident in her decision.
Smiling wryly, Alex summoned the same 'Pawn' piece he had offered Lala earlier that morning before offering it to her a second time. As she had been about to activate it however,
"Wait big sis!" Nana cried as she tried to knock the Crimson piece out of her sister's hand, before saying, "Don't you know that you're basically going to become this man's plaything if you accept that?!" Though someone would usually hesitate when told such a thing, Lala only nodded and said,
"Yep, I know. Though it makes me feel a bit sad about it, I doubt Alex would do anything too bad to me, right?" Though she sounded a bit hesitant when she finished speaking, Lala turned towards Alex for confirmation of her statement, before he in turn looked at Yami, whose cheeks turned more than a little red as she realized what Alex wanted from her.
"...Though I've been his pawn for a few days now, he hasn't touched me other than normal skinship or a brief kiss...." As she trailed off Yami pointedly looked the other way, with a distinct embarrassed pout that would have made anyone who knew of her reputation as an assassin gawk in shock. While the rest of the girls couldn't help but mentally remark about how 'cute' Yami was acting, Lala nodded in affirmation and said,
"See Nana, there's nothing to worry about, Alex is a gentleman!" As she stated as such Lala activated the evil piece before Nana could say anything more, but both girls missed Grayfia mutter off to the side,
"Those poor girls...." Those that did hear her and had already shared Alex's bed, Anne, Rias, Sona, and Tsubaki, couldn't help but to nod in agreement while Elizabeth looked at them in shock, and wondered if she needed to mentally prepare herself more than she already thought before she eventually entered we new master's bed, something she considered an eventuality.
While Elizabeth was trying to come to terms with what she was starting to think was a fairly more intense activity than she thought, Alex stepped forward and said as Sephie and Momo both congratulated Lala,
"Ok, not to rush but I have other things I need to check in on before the day ends, so I want you and Yami to return to the space-time orb to get accustomed to your systems and begin training against the monsters there." Alex then gave Lala a quick rundown on how the system and jobs worked, making Nana turn more than a little green when he mentioned farming experience by killing monsters in the sub-orbs.
Though Lala herself turned a little green due to the fact that she had never killed a living thing before, she had been the one to ask for the evil piece, and so she steadied herself for what was to come. As he finished explaining things to her Alex then turned to Rias and Grayfia, and asked,
"Could the two of you accompany them along with Shia and Shizuku? Yami is a pro assassin so she should already be fairly skilled, but I also want her to understand the level we need to be at. And while Lala is certainly gifted in several ways, I doubt she's been given more than some basic instruction in fighting." Though Yami scowled lightly at Alex's words, Lala laughed awkwardly since neither she or her mother could refute what he said. While she had certainly been schooled in the use of a sword and hand-to-hand combat, Lala's typical behavior and playfulness made it difficult to imagine sending her to the front lines of any battle, and so her parents settled with her simply being able to defend herself.
"Of course we'll go with them, they're now our comrades after all." As she spoke Alex was sure he had seen a bit of a mischievous gleam in Rias's eyes as she glanced at the new 'Pawns', making him wonder if her Spartan instructor side was going to make an appearance. Grayfia then added,
"True, and we need to make sure that they will be able to adequately watch our backs in battle." This time Alex was sure he saw the same gleam in Grayfia's eyes as well, planting a suspicion on where Rias acquired her Spartan training methods originally.
Deciding not to worry about it since he knew they wouldn't push them too far, Alex turned around and said while leaving, "I'll leave them in your care then, see you when I get back!" Lingering only long enough to hear the girls give him their own farewells, Alex then disappeared into a cloud of mist and left them alone.
The moment Alex disappeared the mischievous gleam in Rias's eye turned into a grin as she immediately looped her arm through Lala's and said, "Ok then, time for your first training session!" The moment she heard that a serious look entered Lala's eyes as she pumped her fists while nodding energetically.
Meanwhile Sephie and the twins couldn't help but look at Lala wth concern as they noticed the mischievous look Rias had, but, before they could ask any of the other girls for help, Anne quickly returned to the hospital with Mikado and Oshizu, while Sona returned to the Academy with Tsubaki and Tear. And so, Sephie, Nana, Momo, and Elizabeth had no other choice but to quickly follow Lala and Yami as Rias and Grayfia led them away.
Unaware of what was taking place after he left, Alex was strolling through the campus of Youkai Academy, casually greeting some of the students as he passed them. Though the school was relatively peaceful, Alex could still feel a tension under everyone's skin as they all couldn't help but wonder, what will happen now that humans know about them?
Though the overall goal of the school and it's students hadn't changed, learning to live and survive in the human society, there was a complete difference between integrating in secret, and with humans knowing they were there. Alex however, regardless of how heartless it sounded, no longer considered the relations between the Youkai and humans his concern.
While he did want the two sides to go towards a peaceful coexistence, Alex had no intention of becoming directly involved like he had on Tortus since this world didn't have a god directly inciting conflict, or a prejudice spanning several thousands of years between both sides. It was also for this reason that he initially had both Touhou and Mikogami returned to their youth, so that they could take charge of the path towards peace instead of just dumping it all on someone else before dying like they had in the original timeline.
As his mind wandered Alex found himself in front of the door to Mikogami's office, before he threw it open and entered without a moments hesitation. Mikogami barely glanced up from his work before saying, "You can at least try to knock you know." Alex simply shrugged and didn't say anything until he sat down in the chair before Mikogami's desk, and asked,
"How is it out there?" Mikogami paused while in the middle of writing something, before releasing a great sigh and saying,
"Not good, but not as bad as it could be. Some humans are calling for our extinction, while others want us penned up or tagged so they could constantly monitor us. There are a few that want coexistence as well though, seeing 'monsters' fighting the thing that destroyed an entire city while other 'monsters' protected the citizens did a lot more than I thought it would for our reputation. Plus, it helped that the entire city that had been destroyed was also returned to its original state, and so there was no real property damage done either." Alex listened to Mikogami's review of the last few days silently, before using magic to produce a fairly thick folder and saying while offering it to him,
"This contains the profiles of various important figures in Japan that my people have made contact with, lawyers, judges, politicians, businessmen, even people in the media outlets. They're in a contract with us so they were already in the know about the supernatural, and if you contact them then maybe they'll help you with the public and governments. That's about all of the aid I'll offer though." Though his face was shrouded within his robes as usual, Alex could still see Mikogami frown in response to his words before asking,
"May I ask why you don't intend to help us after revealing our existence to the world?" Alex fought the urge to snort in response as he explained,
"Because I can't hold your hands for everything, can I? My people and I already dealt with Fairy Tale and Alucard for you, two of the greatest threats to coexistence with humans, and we ensured the survival of the forces of the Shuzen family that would support Issa and Akasha. Not to mention that we restored your and Touhou's youth for you when you were both getting ready to kick the bucket any time now." When Alex finished talking Mikogami was silent as he realized the true depth of what Alex had been doing for them, as well as the fact that he probably intended to dump the political problems onto them to begin with. As for the exposure of Youkai to the world, even he couldn't deny it was only a matter of time until humans discovered their existence anyways, as the steady advancement of technology was making it harder and harder for them to hide.
Resisting the urge to sigh, Mikogami finally said, "Very well then, in that case the academy will be reopening in another week instead of now due to the aftermath of Alucard's defeat keeping me and the rest of the staff busy. I won't request your help dealing with the political problems, but if things go south and there is an attempt for war will you intervene? Just as a simple deterrent if nothing else." Alex considered the request for a moment before slowly nodding and saying,
"Very well, but I wouldn't be an effective deterrent when I leave this world for the next." Mikogami only nodded gravely in agreement before saying,
"True, but you could still buy us some time if we need it, but here's hoping it won't come to that." With an agreement made Alex stood and offered his hand to the old Youkai, which Mikogami gratefully accepted and shook, before adding, "Truly, thank you for everything you've done for us."
Alex smirked wryly, and said as he turned around and stared walking away, "Don't worry about it, you can chalk it up to me being bored during what was basically our vacation. Now if you excuse me, I have some children to get back to." Leaving those words, Alex then disappeared into the sudden cloud of mist as he eagerly returned to spend time with his children.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: Lala Satalin Deviluke
Race: Devilukian/Charmian
Titles:
Devilukian Princess.
Job: Jobless: 25
Passive Skills:
Enlarged Energy Pool: Level 5
Superhuman Strength: Level 7
Durability: Level 4
Sword Skill: Level 2
Seduction: Level 7
Active Skills:
Tail Skills: Level 1 (Refers to the Devilukian ability to fire blasts of energy from their tail, however if the skill level is raised then more abilities may be unlocked.)
Sonic Scream: Level 2 (The user pours their own energy into their lungs and vocal cords, resulting in a blast of sound capable of shattering eardrums and even destroying a typhoon.)
Invent: Level 5 (Allows the user to easily create machines with even unconventional materials.)
Unique Abilities:
Peerless intellect
Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~