Human World, Japan, Kuoh.
In the training room under the Alaverus Estate, James and the rest of the mansion's residents stepped out of the elevator to see Kurama meditating and Hiei swinging his sword with practiced precision.
"He really is quite good with a sword." Leona commented after seeing what the short demon could do with a sword in his hand.
"Yeah." James said with a nod. Then, speaking a little louder than necessary, he continued. "But he's still gonna lose."
Not only did James' voice cause Hiei's eyebrows to twitch, but it also caused Kurama to open his eyes and look in the direction of the new arrivals. Though to Hiei's credit, while his eyebrows did twitch, he did not lose his form or fluid movements.
"It seems the time has come." Kurama said, standing up from his meditative position.
"Yeah, it's a shame that Master is still at school, though." James said with a smile and a shrug. "There's no one here to seal my strength."
"That is not necessary." Hiei said bluntly. "At this point, we both know it would be impossible for me to kill you even with your strength sealed."
"True." James replied with a nod.
Like Hiei said, even though James' power and physical strength would be brought down to a level that was similar to Hiei's, Hiei did not have the level of strength needed to deal any meaningful wounds to James. Of course, had Hiei not known James' true strength or identity, it would have made the duel at least a bit interesting to watch.
"Well, since there's no actual point in this, can we just skip this meaningless duel?" James asked. "I'm really not interested in humilia--- *Cough* beating you one-sidedly."
Once again, Hiei's eyebrows twitched while Kurama lowered his head, finding it funny how easily James could get under his old friend's skin.
At the same time, Hiei's annoyance caused him to involuntarily flare his demonic power. To everyone's surprise, his power that had just reached the advanced-level of the high-rank was now close to the peak of the rank.
"Mom, look!" James said, pointing his right index finger at Hiei. "I told you there are benefits to pissing people off."
While Hiei glared at James with a promise of death, the rest of the people in the room chuckled quietly.
A moment later, the elevator opened once again. Through the open doors, Evangeline, Akua, Kahlua, and Yukina appeared and approached the rest of the group.
"Oh, there are so many people here to train." Kahlua said with a smile as she jogged over to James and gave him a hug. "Will you spot me while I lift, James?"
"Sure." James said, patting Kahlua's back with a smile. "But right now, I've got a duel to win."
Tilting her head cutely to the left, Kahlua looked at the people present in the training room. Then, in an innocent tone, she asked a question.
"Why?" Kahlua asked, tilting her head to the other side. "Everyone is too weak to fight with you."
Immediately, the pride of the demons in the room took a hit. While everyone else could only smile wryly at Kahlua's innocent question.
"Because, when I win the duel, I'll have a new member for my peerage." James replied, patting Kahlua's head while he spoke.
Unfortunately, as soon as James started patting her head, Kahlua narrowed her eyes in pleasure and completely stopped paying attention to the topic of conversation.
Seeing Kahlua's reaction, James smiled wryly once again. Then, he let his eyes fall on Hiei.
"Well, are you ready, Hiei." James asked.
"Yes." Hiei replied. "Let's get started."
A few moments later, James and Hiei were standing opposite each other in the sparring ring. While both men had their swords equipped, it was clear that James had no intention of using his, as his hands were raised in a Muay Thai stance. Hiei, on the other hand, was crouched slightly with his right hand gripping the hilt of his sword that was sheathed on his lower back.
"Begin!" Sona said, acting as the referee of the duel.
Immediately after Sona's signal, Hiei conjured a whisp of the darkness flame in his left palm. Then, he fired it upward as the whisp elongated into the shape of a serpentine dragon. However, before it could slam into the ceiling, it turned around and slammed into Hiei, raising his power level even further as he absorbed it.
Hiei then vanished from his spot in a burst of speed. In the next instant, he appeared on James' right, swinging his sword upward, with the Darkness Flame burning on the blade, at James' armpit. Leaning slightly to the left, James evaded Hiei's slash with a paper thin margin. Then, he lightly tapped Hiei's blade with his right elbow.
*Boom!*
Though it was called a light elbow strike, to Hiei, who blocked the attack with his sword, it felt like a meteor had crashed into his sword, sending him flying out of the sparring ring and slamming into one of the magically strengthened walls.
"*Cough* Damn it." Hiei said as he slowly slid down the wall that was completely unscratched after his collision.
"James wins." Sona said, bringing the duel to an end.
"Even though that was pretty one-sided, he's much faster than an ultimate-rank being has any right to be." Flora said, impressed with Hiei's speed.
"Yes, he's quite fast." Akeno said, knowing that Hiei was much faster than she was. A moment later, however, she covered her mouth with her hand as a sadistic gleam twinkled in her eyes before she continued. "But I wonder if he's always that fast? I'm sure any girlfriend he might have would be disappointed in that case. Fufufu."
While most people in the room rolled their eyes at Akeno's joke, Hiei felt himself growing even angrier. The fact that he was constantly being mocked was starting to work his nerves. Unfortunately, his whole body hurt way too much to attack the girl who mocked him.
As soon as the thought of attacking Akeno surfaced in Hiei's mind, an immense amount of killing intent washed over him, causing his already labored breathing to become even more laborious.
"I'd suggest you shelve that thought, Hiei." James said as he stared at Hiei with cold eyes. "If you were to so much as scratch anyone important to me outside of a spar, I will kill you."
Understanding that was not an idle threat, Hiei looked away and clicked his tongue. Everyone else, on the other hand, shivered at the strength of James' killing intent, even if it was not directed at them.
There were two exceptions, however. First, Leona was looking at James with a proud glint in her eyes.
"Look at my baby." Leona said, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. "He's growing up so fast. Already showering his opponents in his killing intent and protecting his women. Mommy's so proud."
And the second exception was Akeno. While rubbing her thighs together, she stared at James with lust in her eyes.
"So domineering, I hope he brings some of that to bed, tonight." Akeno said, getting lost in her own world.
While Yukina blushed at Akeno's words, everyone else only shook their heads at the two women who were not taking the situation seriously. Meanwhile, James approached Hiei and offered him a hand.
"I won the duel, Hiei." James said with his arm outstretched. "So, you'll join my peerage, right?"
"Although I despise you with every fiber of my being…" Hiei began as he reached up to take James' offered hand. "… I will not go back on my word."
"Good." James said with a nod as he pulled Hiei up to his feet. Then, James looked back at the crowd, more specifically, at Kurama, and continued speaking. "And you, Kurama? You're joining too, right?"
"I shall." Kurama said with a nod. "However, I won't be able to live here with everyone else. I don't' wish to leave my mother alone."
Hearing that, Leona smiled as she approached Kurama. Then, she began ruffling his hair as she looked at James.
"I like this one already." Leona said happily. "Anyone who takes care of their mother can't be that bad."
Nodding in agreement with his mother, James replied to Kurama.
"That won't be a problem, Kurama. You're not the only member of my peerages that won't be living in Kuoh. So, don't worry." James said. Then, he shuddered for a moment before he continued, addressing the entire group. "We'll wait until everyone else gets back from school before I do the reincarnation. I'm sure Master would be pissed if I did this without her."
A few hours later, everyone who attended to Kuoh returned home. Then, a few minutes after that, Irene and Erza, who accompanied Toguro, Koto, and Juri to the underworld also returned.
While Koto and Juri were introduced to the committee in charge of the [Rating Games] to seek a new form of employment, Toguro was introduced to Serafall. And after hearing Irene's story about that meeting, James wished that he had been there to see Toguro's expression when Serafall told him that he would be a villain in her magical girl show.
"Please tell me that you at least got a picture Irene." James said with an expression filled with regret.
Instead of responding verbally, Irene only rolled her eyes. Then, she reached into the small purse she carried, took out her smartphone, and sent a message to James. A moment later, James' phone vibrated, and he quickly pulled it out of his pocket. After checking the message he received, he started laughing uproariously.
When everyone crowded around James to see what was so funny, they, too, could not help but laugh and giggle.
In the picture, Toguro's mouth and eyes were wide open while his sunglasses had slid halfway down his face with them resting on the tip of his nose.
"Damn, I gotta send this to Yusuke." James said through laughter. "He's gonna love this."
After a few more minutes, the laughter in the estate's living room finally died down.
"My disciple, shall we begin?" Scathach said after everyone had calmed down completely.
"Yeah, let's get started." James said with a smile.
With that, Hiei and Kurama stepped forward. As they did, James extended his arms toward them. With his right arm in front of Kurama and is left in front of Hiei, a pair of [Pawn Pieces] appeared over his outstretched right palm. While a [Knight Piece] appeared over his left.
A moment later, James pushed the [Evil Pieces] into Hiei and Kurama's chests. Then, he stepped back and inspected the changes the demons went through.
Like James, Scathach was also observing the changes Hiei and Kurama were going through during their reincarnation. She was even using her runes to record the process in detail. Both Surprisingly and unsurprisingly, however, the reincarnation process did not take very long. In only a few tens of seconds, Hiei and Kurama had a pair of devil wings protruding from their lower backs.
Surprising, because devils and demons are considered to be different supernatural species. However, it was also unsurprising because they both used the same source of energy.
"It seems like their demonic energy became more… gentle." James said, sensing the changes from before and after Hiei and Kurama's reincarnations.
"Indeed." Scathach said with a nod. "If I had to hypothesize, when Lucifer fell, he was most likely a fallen angel, just like any other angel that falls from His grace. However, due to his pride, Lucifer could more than likely not stand being called an angel of any kind."
"What does that mean?" Jin asked in confusion.
*Smack!*
"Let Master finish." Cu Chulainn said, smacking Jin upside the head.
"I would imagine that he wished to become a demon, the natural opposite of an angel." Scathach continued, completely ignoring the interruption. "For no other reason than to spite his father. I have no way of knowing how he would have done so, however."
"Now I'm really curious to know how he could have possibly done that." Sona muttered, curiosity brimming in her tone.
"Well, considering that he's dead, there's no way for him to tell us." James said with a shrug. "Not that he would have. Anyway, I would imagine something went wrong. I mean, he became a devil instead of a demon, right?"
To James statement, everyone nodded in agreement.
"Wait! But what about Lilith?" Evangeline asked. "From what I know, she was only a human, right? I mean, wasn't she Adam's first wife… Or something like that?"
"Actually, it came to light that Lilith was never human at all." Sona said, adjusting her glasses. "In fact, she is the progenitor of the succubus species."
"Is that why devils are so good at sex?" Erza asked bluntly.
"More or less." Sona replied.
"Wait, but aren't succubus devils, too?" Maria asked, raising her hand like a student.
"Yes, that's true as well." Sona said with a nod. "While the 72 Pillar Houses and the Extra Devil Houses were believed to have been created through a ritual that combined Lucifer and Lilith's flesh, it is believed that succubi were born between Lucifer and Lilith naturally. Of course, that is all speculation."
"Well, there's a good way to find out the answer to that question." James said with a smile.
"A good way?" Reya asked.
"Yup, let's just ask Lilith." James replied.
"But no one knows where she's been since the end of the Great War." Sona said.
"Oh, that's obvious." James said with a smile. "Hades has her."
"And how did you come to that conclusion?" Irene asked curiously.
"Because Pop exists." James said with a shrug. "How else could Hades have been creating devils like that?"
With that, everyone who knew of Cassiel's backstory wore expressions of realization. At the same time, James' expression turned into a blood thirsty grin.
"Well, I guess I'll be ticking off an item on my bucket list this weekend." James said. "If Hades doesn't hand over Lilith, who is actually my grandma, I'm gonna put my foot up his bony ass. Then, I'll just take her."
After james' declaration, everyone looked at him as if he were carazy. However, that did not stop him from continuing.
"And I really hope he denies my request."