Straightening up and squaring her shoulders, Le Fay sets her jaw.
 
“That won’t be necessary.”
 
Surprise ripples across the faces on the other end of the call, with her big brother seeming the most surprised of all by her sudden spine. Jeez, was she really that bad? For a second Le Fay second-guesses herself, but in the end she manages to hold onto her resolve.
 
“Issei… Issei is far from weak. He’s super strong and committed entirely to remaining human. Not even those three will manage to force him into their peerages. So in the end… there’s nothing to worry about.”

She finishes her statement with a solemn but strong nod. She believes everything she just said after all. Well, mostly. The part about Issei being committed entirely to remaining human is slightly overshadowed by the fact that in actuality, the young man considers himself a dragon first and a human second. He’s the Red Dragon Emperor after all.
 
Leaning forward on the other end of the call, Cao Cao narrows his eyes. 
“Truly? He’s that strong?”
 
Le Fay finds herself thinking back to the sounds of fighting she and Jeanne have been hearing these past few days. At first, Jeanne had wanted to go and join in, the battle maniac that she is. Le Fay had had to hold her back. However, as the… ‘training’ has gone on, even Jeanne has begun to look a little queasy at what Gabriel is putting her so-called ‘beloved’ and his rival through. Indeed, every time a loud crash sounds, the swordswoman flinches at this point.
 
Slowly nodding, Le Fay coaches Gabriel’s incredibly intense training of Issei and Vali in the best way possible, a warm and radiant smile spreading across her face.
 
“Issei Hyoudou gets stronger every single day.”
 
There’s a long pause as the members of the Hero Faction peer at her, as though looking for deception. Then, they all share unreadable glances with one another. Finally, Cao Cao turns back to the call and nods sharply.
 
“Very well. We’ll leave it to you both then… do not let Issei Hyoudou fall to the Devils. No matter what.”
 
Jeanne steps back in here, smiling cheerily.
 
“We won’t, don’t worry!”
 
With that, the call comes to an end… just as the room shakes with another localized earthquake. Le Fay and Jeanne share a look at that, both of them knowing for a fact that there’s not much they can do in the coming interactions to help. Not really. But… they’ll still do their absolute best to support Issei in any way they possibly can.
 
-x-X-x-
 
The past couple weeks have been hellish to say the least. But as Issei stands there with his arms crossed over his chest, he can’t deny the results. Indeed, when Gabriel had first decided to really ramp up his and Vali’s training again, he hadn’t known what to think at first. But then a few days into things, they had been contacted about a delegation of devils coming to… negotiate with them.
 
This wasn’t the same thing as with the Grigori. The Fallen Angels had sent Vali and her team as liaisons, to build some sort of rapport or what have you with Issei and Gabriel. However, the devils actually had a claim to the land that Issei and his Fallen Seraph were living on. Kuoh Town was supposed to be entirely under the control of Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri.
 
By all rights, Issei’s lopsided relationship with the two heiresses, as well as his and Gabriel’s overall power when compared to Rias and Sona, should have made it a moot point. Sure, on paper Sona and Rias could own Kuoh, but behind the scenes, everyone knew that Issei effectively owned the both of them and their peerages in turn. All of them were part of his expansive hoard by this point.
 
However, that ignored one simple truth… Rias and Sona were the younger sisters of two of the four Great Satans. And also said Satans were terribly siscons. Now, Issei had wound up in the middle of Serafall and Sona’s incredibly strange relationship at one point. He’d even helped them reconcile, after a fashion. Things had wound up with Sona effectively dominating her older, more powerful sister in bed, and Serafall seemingly going along with it.
 
However, from that whole situation, Issei had gotten the impression that Serafall didn’t really like him very much. Nor did she approve of him and Sona’s relationship. Issei himself hadn’t been powerful enough at the time to truly dominate the Great Satan with simple strength, so while they HAD fucked, they’d parted on… somewhat awkward terms.
 
So why exactly was Serafall heading this delegation? Issei didn’t know for sure, but he didn’t think it was for any halfway decent reason. Sure, technically there WERE some good reasons for Serafall to take point on the negotiations between their two factions. Even if Issei and Gabriel were barely their own faction at this point when compared to something like the entrenched and far-reaching political power of the Underworld… they were still two very powerful people.
 
Gabriel was a Seraph before she Fell, one of Heaven’s most powerful Angels. She wasn’t any less powerful now that she was the Fallen Seraph either, so she still posed a rather massive threat. Meanwhile, Issei was the Red Dragon Emperor… and the Grigori had sent the White Dragon Empress to liaise with him. By all accounts, he and Vali should have already killed each other by this point. The animosity between Ddraig and Albion was legendary the world over.
 
And yet, they hadn’t. So that was probably cause for massive concern among the devils. On top of that, Issei and Gabriel hadn’t sworn any sort of allegiance to the Grigori either, which meant that the Underworld still had a chance to swoop in. And on top of THAT, there was Issei’s alliance with Yasaka and the Youkai of Urakyoto to be considered. The Youkai were a minor faction at best, but while Issei and Gabriel outstripped them in terms of personal power, they in turn had greater and further reaching political influence.
 
This was all to say… a realistic and well-thought out case COULD be made for the Great Satan in charge of Foreign Affairs for the Underworld to personally see to these negotiations. Issei just didn’t buy that all of the aforementioned reasons were why Serafall had truly stepped up to handle this herself. He didn’t believe it for one second.
 
And her companions… Grayfia Lucifuge and Venelana Gremory. On the one hand, Issei had history with the one they called the Underworld’s Strongest Queen. And on the other hand, while he’d never met Lady Gremory, he’d most definitely knocked up her daughter. So… all things considered, as he stands there waiting for the devils to arrive with Gabriel at his side, Issei isn’t nervous… but he is anticipatory and wary.
 
“This is either going to go terribly… or wonderfully.”
 
Beside him, Gabriel snickers.
 
“Or perhaps both, hmm? Things could certainly go wonderfully terrible… or terribly wonderful.”
 
Issei snorts in amusement at that. He holds no ill-will towards the Fallen Seraph for working so hard to whip him and Vali into shape. While part of him wishes she’d focused solely on him… the larger part can’t deny the results of her decision. At first, it was him and Vali against the insurmountable obstacle that was the Fallen Seraph.
 
But then they both got stronger and stronger, feeding off of one another, their passengers’ legacy of rivalry turning into something somewhat friendly… but still VERY competitive. As the days had gone on, as Gabriel had made excuses to push back the Underworld Delegation’s arrival by one more week, Issei and Vali had become more and more in-sync. Working together and working to outdo each other at the same time… it’d been somewhat glorious.
 
And then they’d gotten to the point where they were, together, starting to surpass Gabriel. In just a week’s time, Vali had managed to pull even with him. Part of Issei had rankled at that. Ddraig had grumbled a bit about letting her eternal rival grow so strong instead of just taking the easy victory and killing or at least subjugating Vali while she was still weak.
 
But the results spoke for themselves. Once they were strong enough that Gabriel could no longer defeat the both of them with ease… she changed tack. Suddenly, they weren’t fighting the Fallen Seraph anymore. Suddenly, they were fighting each other again. And it was fun. It wasn’t a one-sided stomp, as it would have been a week ago. Issei had improved, sure, but Vali had improved more.
 
However, now that they were even in strength with one another, their improvement was far more apace. Vali couldn’t pull ahead of him, no matter how hard he tried. Similarly, Issei couldn’t retake his immense, seemingly insurmountable lead anymore. With Gabriel as their instructor, the two of them beat one another into within an inch of death again and again and again for the last week before today.
 
Yesterday had been a day of rest, but every day before that, Issei and Vali had seen their lives flash before their eyes as they truly sought to kill one another, to extract every bit of power that they could from fighting each other to the death. Only the Fallen Seraph kept their death blows from actually being fatal. Only Gabriel’s healing made it even possible for Issei to stand here today without a single ache or pain.
 
He might not feel the soreness of these past two weeks, but he definitely felt the gains. Positively brimming with power, Issei can’t help but stand tall, even as something finally appears in the distance. He frowns as the ‘somethings’ crystallize into a pair of dots, that then become two women who fast approach and then set down on the ground before him and Gabriel.
 
Looking at the visages of Serafall Leviathan in her Magical Girl Costume, and Grayfia Lucifuge in her Maid Uniform, Issei’s frown grows. Meanwhile, the Leviathan ignores him, having eyes only for Gabriel as she does a little twirl and then makes a peace sign.
 
“Magical Girl Levi-tan, at the great and glorious Fallen Seraph’s service! Oh, and this is Grayfia Lucifuge, Queen, Maid, and Wife to Sirzechs Lucifer!”
 
Grayfia throws her superior a look as she quietly groans and covers her face with her palm. Meanwhile, Gabriel just smiles softly, not saying a word. Instead, Issei steps forward, crossing his arms over his chest.
 
“Where is the other member of your delegation? We were told to also expect Lady Venelana Gremory, but I don’t see her with you both?”
 
The bright smile on Serafall’s face freezes as she slowly turns her head towards him. Their prior history together has not left the Leviathan with a favorable opinion of him, has it? That’s okay though… because it hasn’t left Issei with a very favorable opinion of HER either. Frankly, Serafall submitting to Sona like she did was making the best of a bad situation back then. Issei’s fingers itched to really put the bitch in her place now and make her recognize that she couldn’t just go around acting like some magical girl all of the time without consequences.
 
In the end, Serafall doesn’t address him directly. She turns her eyes back towards Gabriel, acting less like the super-powerful Satan she’s supposed to be, and more like a petulant brat.
 
“As I’m sure you know, Fallen Seraph, Kuoh Town and the lands surrounding it are under the dominion of Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri. As such, we stopped to pay our respects to them first, and the third member of our delegation, Lady Gremory, decided to stay behind to catch up with her daughter. I’m sure she’ll catch up eventually. After all, she likely has a great many questions about her daughter’s state.”
 
The thinly veiled threat, that Rias’ mom will be upset at him for knocking Rias and Akeno up, causes Issei to snort derisively. Shaking his head, arms still crossed over his chest, he lets Gabriel respond this time. The Fallen Seraph’s smile has gained an edge to it, even as she reaches out and pointedly takes Issei’s hand in her own.
 
“Do you have a problem with my beloved, Leviathan? I must admit… you seem to be at odds with him.”
 
From the look on Grayfia’s face, she too has noticed just how much Serafall doesn’t like Issei. The silver-haired maid has been grimacing more and more ever since she stopped facepalming.
 
Serafall pouts as Gabriel addresses the issue that she’s been blatantly avoiding, forcing it to the forefront of the conversation. After a moment, the Leviathan sniffs haughtily and makes a show of inspecting her nails.
 
“Problem? No, no problem here on my end. I just don’t have time to deal with weaklings. I’m not here for Issei Hyoudou… I’m here for you, Fallen Seraph.”
 
Issei bristles at that, his eyes narrowing as a number of things he could say to such a comment run through his mind. Before he can decide upon any of them, Serafall continues on, a wicked sort of grin spreading across her face.
 
“Just imagine it, Gabriel! You would look spectacular in a Magical Girl Uniform! If you joined my peerage, you could even be a part of my TV show, Miracle Levia-tan! We could have a character arc where you started out as a villain and eventually went through a redemption, before joining the main team and fighting the forces of evil with me!”
 
Gabriel blinks. Issei does too. He was expecting a lot of things from Serafall, but that sort of offer wasn’t it. Never mind that Gabriel WOULD look sexy as fuck as a redeemed ‘Dark Magical Girl’… was Serafall seriously trying to poach Gabriel right in front of him? Did she really think that would work?
 
The smile on Gabriel’s face has become decidedly wooden now as the Fallen Seraph processes everything the Leviathan just told her. This really had gone off the rails quite rapidly, but then to be fair, his and Serafall’s prior history made everything more than a little strange, didn’t it? To say nothing of his prior history with Grayfia. And the one member of the delegation he hadn’t even met yet was not only Rias’ mom, but she also wasn’t even here!
 
“… I am afraid I must decline. My place is at my beloved’s side. And I should warn you… Issei Hyoudou is not the weakling you think he is.”
 
Serafall pouts mightily once more but doesn’t seem all that surprised by Gabriel’s reaction. In the end, the pigtail wearing Great Satan flicks a hand dismissively.
 
“Well, just think about it. I just want you to know you have options~”
 
Gabriel and Issei exchange a silent glance at that, both thrown for a loop. Their original plan had been to divide and conquer. Issei was supposed to pick who he thought was the weakest link of the three and take them off on their own while Gabriel handled the others. Now though, with one of the three not even here and Serafall making her intentions clear, he wasn’t so sure that was the best idea anymore.
 
And even if he did stick to the original plan… he wasn’t sure whether to take Serafall or Grayfia at this point either…

-x-X-x-

The Patreon Vote:

[X] Divide and conquer, Issei with Grayfia, Gabriel with Serafall - 53%
[  ] Divide and conquer, Issei with Serafall, Gabriel with Grayfia - 27%
[  ] Change of plans, stick together - 19%

(From this chapter on, I will be posting the results of the Patreon Vote for the chapter to increase transparency and alleviate the issue of constant cliffhangers.)