Chapter 288 - Reunited

Dimensional Gap, Team DxD Base.

"Gasper!" Shouted a beautiful woman, who had all the most beautiful traits of both vampires and humans, with short blonde hair and red eyes, wearing a white sun dress and sandals, as she immediately dashed toward the androgenous dhampir.

"Masaomi!" Shouted another beautiful woman with grey hair and eyes wearing a light blue blouse, black skirt, and black shoes while standing in place as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Akeno! Baraqiel!" Shouted a third beautiful woman with long black hair tied into a ponytail and light brown eyes wearing a white kimono. She then, like the first woman sprinted toward the two whose names she called out.

"Valerie?" Gasper exclaimed in shock before being tackled to the ground by the excited blonde woman, Valerie Tepes.

Valerie Tepes was the former leader of the Tepes Faction, in name. She is the possessor of the Longinus, [Sephiroth Graal] and the dhampir Vali and his team rescued from Romania when they met Rizevim and the Evil Dragons.

"Gasper, I'm so glad to see you again!" Valerie said excitedly as she rubbed her cheek on Gasper's while they lay together on the ground. "Now, we can play dress up again."

Although he was confused, Gasper smiled happily and hugged Valerie just as affectionately.

"So, she's the reason he ended up like that, huh?" Jmaes muttered to himself while watching the interaction between Gasper and Valerie.

Meanwhile, Masaomi, after hearing his name, snapped out of his daze. Although he wanted to rush forward and wrap the grey-haired woman that called his name in his embrace, he knew that because he was a prisoner, he did not have the leeway to do so.

"You can go, Yaegaki Masaomi." Ajuka said in an impassive tone. "This is the reason you were brought here, after all."

Masaomi turned his head toward Ajuka in surprise upon hearing his words. Then, he lowered his head sincerely.

"Thank you, Lord Beelzebub." Masaomi said with tears beginning to run down his face.

"You should thank Lord Sataniel instead." Ajuka said calmly. "He was the one who made this happen."

"Yes, I will." Masaomi said as he raised his head.

A moment later, Masaomi looked at James, who was still hugging Akeno, and nodded gratefully. Then, he dashed toward the woman he had been missing since his resurrection.

"Cleria!" Masaomi shouted while running.

When he arrived near the grey-haired woman, Cleria Belial, Masaomi immediately wrapped his arms around her waist, picked her up off the ground, and spun with her in place. The whole while, he was smiling and shedding tears of joy.

As previously mentioned, Masaomi and Cleria were separated by death because of their respective organizations, the Devil Council and the Church, because their relationship was considered forbidden. But now, since the two organizations were in an alliance, and they had been resurrected, there should be no issues with them being together.

Meanwhile, Akeno and Baraqiel were also stunned into inaction. However, that did not stop the beautiful mature woman from approaching. As she drew near, James released his arms from around Akeno and gently pushed her toward the woman who was approaching with tears in her eyes.

The black-haired, mature woman, Himejima Shuri, did not hesitate when she was close enough to envelope Akeno in a tight hug. Then, she smiled and cried simultaneously. At the same time, feeling her mother's warm embrace, Akeno also began to cry. She then wrapped her own arms around her mother.

While the mother and daughter were hugging and shedding tears, Baraqiel stood in place with disbelief swirling in the depth of his eyes. A moment later, James approached and patted him on the shoulder.

"Though I'm still not happy about what you tried to do to Akeno back then, I still think it would be better if you joined them instead of just standing here, Father-in-law." James said with a smile.

Baraqiel threw a complicated glance at James. Then, with unsure steps, he walked over to his wife and daughter. Without thinking much, he hugged them both when he was close enough. Although Akeno struggled when she realized that Baraqiel was hugging her, his grip did not loosen as tears flowed down his stern face.

"I'm actually surprised you encouraged him like that." Azazel said with his usual shit eating grin on his face. Then, he elbowed James in the side a couple of times and continued. "Trying to gain some points with the mother-in-law?"

In response, James only shook his head gently. Then, he turned his head toward today's last reunion.

After Valerie, Cleria, and Shuri reunited with the people they wanted to see, Elaine stepped forward and approached the Vali team calmly. At first, no one noticed her approach. But when they did, all the members of the Vali team looked at her curiously. Meaning, Arthur and Le fay noticed her as well.

"Young Master, Young Miss, it's good to see you are both well." Elaine said as she approached Arthur and Le Fay.

"Elaine..." Arthur muttered in a daze as he stared at Elaine.

"Big Sister Elaine." Le Fay said happily as she also approached Elaine.

When Elaine and Le Fay were close enough, Le Fay hugged Elaine without hesitation. Then, with a smile on her face, she held Elaine's hand and pulled her toward Arthur.

"Big Brother, Elaine is here!" Le Fay exclaimed happily.

"How...? Why...?" Arthur muttered in confusion without taking his eyes off Elaine.

"Your father, Lord Uther, asked Lord Sataniel to bring me here so that I could meet you." Elaine replied elegantly. "I was tasked to take care of your daily needs and tend to you and your sister's well-being."

Arthur was dumbfounded after hearing what Elaine had to say.

"Father... Did?" Arthur asked in a daze.

"Yes." Elaine replied with a nod. "As soon as Lord Sataniel informed him that you were no longer part of the Khaos Brigade, he gave me this task."

While Le Fay was happy to have Elaine with them, Arthur had no idea what he should say in response to the news. However, he was not given much time to think about it as he was interrupted by another voice that he was familiar with from his time at the Pendragon castle.

"Arthur!" Erza shouted. "So, you really did come. Good, now you won't be able to run away. I challenge you to a duel!"

Before Arthur could respond to Erza's challenge, Erza was chopped on the top of her head by Irene.

"Did the Pendragon House teach you nothing about tact?" Irene asked in irritation. "It looks like I need to go back to Wales and have a nice, long talk with Uther."

"Mother, why did you do that?" Erza asked while holding her hands over the spot where she was chopped.

"Can't you see that this is not the time for duel challenges?" Irene asked in an exasperated tone. "How would you feel if we were interrupted like that when we were reunited."

Erza immediately understood her folly. She then lowered her head toward Arthur, Le Fay, and Elaine.

"Please accept my apology for my blunder." Erza said sincerely. "If you wish, you may strike me as recompense."

Immediately, Irene, Arthur, Le Fay, and Elaine sighed in unison.

"Big Sister Erza, it's good to see that you haven't changed." Le Fay said with a wry smile.

*Smack!*

Before anyone else could say anything about Erza's actions, a loud slap resounded through out the area. When everyone looked to the source of the sound, they saw Baraqiel standing there in front of a crying Akeno and an angry Shuri.

"So, not only did you not try to help Akeno after I died, but you even raised your hand to hit her when you were clearly in the wrong?" Shuri said with the ferocity of a lioness protecting her cubs. "It seems we need to have a talk about what it means to be a parent, Baraqiel."

Shuri then stomped toward Baraqiel and grabbed him by the ear like a naughty child. Then, she looked in James and Azazel's direction.

"Is there somewhere private where we can talk?" Shuri said with an intense gaze.

James and Azazel exchanged glances. Then, after communicating with their eyes for a few moments, they both nodded. Then, James snapped his fingers, causing a teleportation magic circle to appear beneath Shuri and Baraqiel. A moment later, they both vanished with the magic circle.

A moment later, Akeno was being comforted by the girls in Rias' peerage. Meanwhile, Azazel looked at James with curiosity.

"So, where did you send them?" Azazel asked.

"Well, there are five master bedroom suites in the base." James said, pointing at the base building over his shoulder with his thumb. "And each one is reserved for one of the four leaders and our advisor, you."

As he spoke, Azazel felt like he didn't like where James was going with this.

"So, I sent them to one of those master bedroom suites." James continued. "And since Baraqiel is with you, I just decided that room, the one on the fifth floor, will be yours."

Hearing that, Azazel's face paled. Then, he grabbed James by the collar.

"Damn it, James.!" Azazel shouted. "Do you have any idea what those two are going to end up doing? Of course..."

"Yup, sure do." James replied. "Akeno told me something about her parents'... preferences."

"... you don't. How could--- Huh?" Azazel continued before he registered what James said. "If you knew, then why did you send them to my room?"

"Because things are probably gonna get pretty kinky in there." James said nonchalantly while removing Azazel's hands from his collar. "And you're probably the one whose most into that shit."

Azazel wanted to disagree. However, he, and everyone who knew him well enough, knew that would be the lie of the century. So, he settled for glaring at James, instead.

"I wonder what a black light will show in that room after their done." James said with a mischievous smile on his face.

"I hate you." Azazel said in a low tone.

"Aww I love you too, Azazel." James said with a bright smile. "You were always my favorite teach... *Cough!* *Cough!* Second favorite teacher at school."

Before James could finish teasing Azazel, he felt an intense glare on him. Without even thinking, he knew that it came from Scathach. He could only imagine the hell he would be put through in training had he finished that sentence. Since, there was no way that Scathach would accept being anything less than her man's favorite schoolteacher.

"A-Anyway, why are the ones from heaven always late?" James said in an attempt to change the subject. "I'm sure Dulio got distracted by something again, right?"

"Hmph! You tease me but you're afraid of your own woman, huh?" Azazel said disdainfully.

Immediately, Scathach's scolding glare turned from James to Azazel, causing the former Governor-General to shudder uncontrollably and James to snicker quietly.

Luckily, before Scathach could begin ripping into Azazel for his comment, another teleportation circle appeared nearby. When it vanished, the figures of Michael, Gabriel, Dulio, and Griselda appeared in its place.

"Sorry we're late." Michael said, bowing his head politely.

"Yes, while I was walking around the Human World, I stopped to help some orphaned children. Then, I took them to have a good meal." Dulio said with a smile. "It took me longer than expected."

"*Sigh* If this guy wasn't doing something objectively good, I'd have the urge to slap him upside the head." James said in a tired tone. Then, in a much brighter tone, he spoke to the crowd. "Well, before we all go exploring the training areas, why don't we all get familiar with the base. We should probably allocate bedrooms, too."

Everyone nodded in agreement with James' suggestion. However, before they could all start moving toward the base, they were stopped when Vali shouted at James.

"After that, we're gonna fight, James." Vali said with confidence while staring at James with fire burning in his eyes. "And this time, I'll win."

"Maybe later." James said, waving off Vali's challenge dismissively. "After we allocate rooms, I have to go and pick up two members of my peerage. But don't you worry, you'll get that ass kicking you asked for when I get back."

With that, the members of DxD and the higher ups of the devils and angels entered the base and began allocating rooms. In the end, James took the master bedroom on the second floor and most of the devils had rooms on the second and third floors. While the rest were sprinkled over the fourth and fifth floors.

Dulio ended up with the master bedroom on the third floor and Griselda's bedroom was the one closest to Dulio's. Vali took the master suite on the fourth floor while Tobio took the suite on the sixth. While their teams all chose floors on the same floor as their leaders.