Family Ousting

Watching the games get underway, the higher ups watched all of the fights being screened in their own VIP sectioned rooms for individual groups. One of those rooms were for the leaders such as the two of the Maou, consisting of Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub, sadly Falbium Asmodeus couldn't attend since he couldn't be bothered to wake up from his regularly appointed nap. Other mythology leaders such as Azazel, S. Michael, and not to mention the two major guests visiting from their own pantheons were also in attendance enjoying the match.

"My, my, this battle's becoming more unpredictable by the second." Odin stroked his beard as he watched the game in amusement.

"Guahahaha! Indeed, first a mighty display of cunning and wit, and now a glorious brawl between those two vigorous young men!"

Laughed, the Chief God of Mt. Olympus, Zeus, the god of Thunder. Despite being an elder god like Odin, the man was quite tall and muscular as he had long silvery-white hair and a pair of blue electrifying eyes. He wore the traditional attire for Greeks such as a gold and white toga along with a golden wreath crowned on his head.

The sheer display of raw tenacity found in the two [Pawns] fighting was admirable not to mention impressive as neither waned in terms of stamina from fighting for the past thirty minutes. To witness such passion not only whetted his appetite but left him wanting more as he hoped the upcoming Mt. Olympus Games would prove to be just as satisfying if not more than this.

Though thrilled with the match, he only hoped that his grandson resonated with him while watching this match in one of the other VIP rooms, intentionally leaving him in the presence of Odin's beautiful granddaughter. Two demigod youths watching a clash of brains and might should finally get his grandson to perk up and get that all too familiar fire in his eyes like his father.

Also, he was hoping for a chance that perhaps his grandson could gain himself a potential prospect with the beautiful lass. Zeus wasn't one to hide his interests. Were it not for the fact that he and Odin made an oath to never lay a hand on either of their kin and descendants, he would have most definitely sought out the alluring Valkyrie granddaughter of his.

He can only hope that Theo would at least ask her what her favorite animal was otherwise him teaching the young demigod the ability would be a waste. Also, Zeus wished to be informed just in…case…

But while the Chief God of Greek was engrossed in his thoughts about his kin, the Chief Norse God was preoccupying his attention on the two [Pawns] duking it out, or more specifically the one who's aura caught his magical eye.

"So, the pawn from the Sitri family possesses Vritra's sacred gears, eh?" Odin closely observed the bespectacled devil on the screen rapidly throwing kicks at Michael, "Not to mention that he's a rare case that possesses all of them, I take it that Punkish Fallen Brat had something to do with that…"

It wasn't uncommon to see a possessor of the Prison Dragon's sacred gear with more than one of them, but it was next to impossible for any one person to gain them all. Considering that most of Vritra's past possessors were basically humans, the inherent call of the evil dragon's fragmented soul from each piece of the sacred gears would compel possessors to make them whole again. Thus, began the pointless cycle of carnage for completion. Frankly speaking, that pawn was lucky to be reincarnated into a devil and introduced to handling the race's inherent magics otherwise he might have had a rough life.

But the other one…

"And that is this generation's Sekiryuutei?" He said to himself, it didn't take him much time to notice that familiar striking aura considering his pantheon's past experience with it and the White Dragon Emperor despite how short their stay was.

He took a glance at his personal bodyguard, Rossweisse.

"Yes, Lord Odin?"

"…Nothing…I was just wondering how proud your Grandmother must be with such an impeccable Valkyrie such as yourself." Odin smiled much to Rossweisse's surprise and embarrassment.

"W-Why-*AHEM!* Thank you, Lord Odin, hearing such praise from you is an honor." Rossweisse bowed, gratefully trying to put on a stoic and dignified front. Though the sides of her lips did creep up into a joyful smile.

"Hm, praise? No, forgive me, let me finish." Odin coughed then smirked, "I was wondering how proud your grandmother must be of you even while dealing with the crippling disappointment that her precious granddaughter has yet to procure even a single lover to keep her family line going…"

*SNIFF!*

"I-If you'll excuse me, I'll be going to the bathroom now…" Keeping up her dignified façade, Rossweisse briskly walked out the VIP section as moisture began to bead out from the side of her eyes, "Who knows maybe I'll find myself a man when I come ba-aaaaaugh!" The Valkyrie wailed as she slammed the door.

'There, now I won't have to feel guilty whenever I look at her.' Odin laughed to himself.

Though it was a surprise to know that the current Sekiryuutei is now currently a devil, his attention was solely on the boy's appearance. He rubbed his chin as he coyly smiled at the physical similarities that he found the teen to possess in comparison to that person.

'It could be just a coincidence…' Odin thought, but shrugged that thought off.

Something happening once would deem that notion plausible, but twice would be pushing it. After all, that monkey youkai still possesses those uncanny looks despite his efforts to cover it up. Their existences either had to be a cruel joke or premonition to something far dreadful beyond his compare. To be honest, he couldn't give a crap anymore, he's to old to snap back into his old worrisome self like millennia ago.

The fate of whatever is planned for those two were their own. He's had enough trouble denying preordained destiny.

Taking a deep breath, Odin tiredly exhaled as he keenly watched the match, "At this point its hard to tell who would win. Though from watching it, its clear which side really wants to win it."

"Things are looking quite dicey, aren't they?" S. Michael said as he too was engrossed in the games, "But for whom is quite difficult to say."

Throughout the first sixty minutes of the Rating Game about eight players in all had already been wiped out. Though the team that's members seemed to be taking risky damages would have to be Sitri family. Such devotion to place themselves in harms way for victory and for each other to advance was admirable and quite disheartening for the Seraph to witness.

"That's certainly an understatement…" Azazel groaned with a small smirk as he thought, 'Note to self: investigate and figure out who decided to teach Sona's peerage that highly untested and incomplete Reverse spell… No, scratch that, tell Raymond to investigate and deal with whoever did that, then get yourself some Irish Bread to go with your Irish coffee…yes…'

Though this gave him an entertaining game to watch, the Governor-General was not pleased to see his students unveil such a dangerous spell. It wasn't a powerfully destructive spell, but it was still heavily dangerous for the caster to use. Before the peace treaty, the Grigori were developing a way to use the devil's demonic powers against them and so the Reverse project was being engineered.

However, Azazel put that project on hold since the theorized results were either shaved life expectancies or magic deficiency.

And those results were only expected for Fallen Angels and that meant so many potential dangers for any devil users. For all he knew, they could accidentally kill themselves by reversing their own internal demonic energy into holy energy. It wasn't uncommon for most of his officers to test some stuff behind his back, and those projects were minor, but to stoop to using young, credulous household devils was crossing the line.

'I don't have the luxury for any bitter morons, who want to continue a hopeless project. We just finished clearing any suspicion toward us dealing with that High-class devil's murder. Plus, I really don't want to have to explain why one of the kids suddenly turned into a pile of ash.' Azazel clicked his tongue and tapped his finger on the arm of his seat in annoyance.

And considering the type of person that Sona was, she would already know the risks, and despite that Azazel did have to admit to one thing.

"But it's really hard to deny that their results are working in their favor." Despite how dual sided it was.

He was honestly surprised with how quickly the tables have been turned against Rias and her peerage. Some of the warnings that he relayed to them did in fact come to pass, but he didn't predict the match to go this off the rails from his expectations.

"Quite but I wonder for how long this approach will last." S. Michael wondered aloud.

Azazel sheepishly shrugged, "I have no clue, might as well continue watching, right? There's also something I'm keeping an eye out for…"

"And what would that be?" S. Michael looked to Azazel who snickered in response.

"Indeed…"

"…Hm…" S. Michael gave Azazel a heedful glance while the Governor-General attentively watched, soon enough he did same while keeping that comment fresh in his mind knowing it to be downright ignorant to just simply ignore the mumblings of the mischievous Fallen Angel.

*SHINE!*

"Hm?" Breaking his attention away from the game, Sirzechs answers the call to a communication circle placed near his ear, "Hello, what's the emergenc-? Oh, Kai? What's the matter?"

…

"No, I'm fine."

…

"True but be assured with Ajuka and the other leaders with me I'll be just fine."

"…?" Confused, Ajuka looked to his old friend.

…

"Yes, Kai, I'm absolutely sure that I won't be in any danger. Just enjoy yourself like you always do and relax."

…

"Good, oh, and make sure to tell them both I said to enjoy the match, hmhmhm!" Sirzechs lightly chuckled as he ended the call.

"I take it that something was amiss over on Son's end?" Ajuka questioned, based on what he heard of their conversation, it sounded as though his close friend's advisor was flustered, which rarely happened.

"Perhaps, but its nothing to get concerned about."

"I see, but if that is the case then I could only hazard a guess as to what's ailing him…" Ajuka groaned, but with a knowing smile.

"When it comes to actually dealing with his personal life, Kai's a complete novice." Sirzechs laughed, finding some humor in the misfortune of his friend's predicament.

XXX

"Jirou-sama?"

"Don't fret, Walburga. I simply require the use of the bathroom, I'll return shortly." Exiting the VIP adjacent to the other leaders, Jirou folded his arms into the wide sleeves of his formal blue and white floral kimono with an elegant loose black coat. He needed to look more presentable as a guest from Kyoto.

"I-If you're in need of an escort then I would gladly-!" Walburga lewdly panted as she quickly approached the door.

"Walburga… I'm fine. Really, and please…don't follow…" Jirou groaned as he materialized one of his many fluffy fox tails to slam the door shut behind him.

"…Tease…" A frustrated moan muffled through the door.

Jirou coughed and somewhat blushed at the passing comment, but made way down the hall nonetheless. He needed a breather, between Walburga pampering him and trying to exploit his "weaknesses" and watching the intense match, he found that a nice walk was needed to clear his mind.

The congregation of various powers coming from esteemed guests from other mythological factions didn't even bother him in the slightest. After spending decades to quite literally centuries being roped into Kai's misadventures, he's grown out of that restless phase.

As for the Rating Game match, he had to say that things were getting quite enjoyable in his opinion.

Usually, whenever he was invited to partake in such events as a friendly gesture thanks to Kai's youkai connection and Serafall's expertise with Foreign affairs, he would make a game out predicting each team's next course of action before spoiling it to Kai just to get on his nerves. After being called to watch each of the top three ranked contestants either face each other or other Kings, it becomes quite easy to know the outcome sometimes.

If one of the three faced up and coming face to the Rating games, they would win in a landslide, and if two of the lowest rank of the three faced number one, then the victor would automatically Diehauser Belial, the Champion.

A strange fellow that one, Jirou was fascinated by the fellow and had actually gotten to meet him once, but didn't grasp much from the interaction, it was as if the man wasn't too keen to pry too deeply into the Kyoto ruler's affairs in order to avoid fairly revealing his own.

'I guess being a Champion of the games here makes one cautious that their secrets may be used against them, but…no, a thought for later…' Jirou pushed a peculiar thought to the side as he focused on the main reason why he was enjoying the current match, 'Saji's doing quite well, I guess owe it to my adorable nephew for helping him get physically adept, but despite that he was able to keep up with my teachings…'

After getting whipped into shape by Shirou those first fifteen days, Jirou was quite surprised with how the young devil was able to soak up his teachings. It wasn't as if he was going to be a hardass or teach the kid through trickery like Kai would, he just immediately went into explaining high concept tactics that would have made the ordinary person confused beyond belief. Sure, there were a few hiccups here and there with the occasional questions, but he didn't need to explain it more than twice.

'I guess that Kai was right for once about the two of us having things in common. He's smart, and he's also the chosen one, who will lead our Ass-loving Brethren to the promised land…' Jirou smirked which then fell, 'Sadly, Kai wasn't kidding about the kid's self-doubt when compared to his more pronounced peers.'

Michael Hanamura. That was the main mental roadblock that Saji still has struggled to overcome. Sure, he also mentioned a Rallen fellow that he faced during the Khaos Brigade's attack during the conference, but it came to devising strategies against the Red Dragon Emperor, the Sitri Pawn was always rethinking and scrapping ideas. As soon as that boy was brought up, all progress was halted for seven of the remaining fifteen days of that month.

And Jirou was absolutely shocked with the strategies that Saji devised despite his incessant ramblings about how they would never work. From what he had gathered, the teen's plans ranged from effective to fullproof. It actually had to take a while for him to compose the devil into not overthinking things, a similar problem that Jirou himself had to face in his youth.

'He devised great plans that would've definitely worked to subdue Kai's little brother, but he still lacks the ability to execute some of them. One month of training wouldn't be enough for him to enact them since they were definitely above his pay grade.'

So Jirou gave him some advice to just start conducting simple plans with the various abilities that he had along with cooperating with his fellow peerage servants. It did help to settle his nerves somewhat, so it was a start to his path to self-improvement.

He felt a twinge of pride as he watched Saji enact his strategies so efficiently.

'I guess this is what Onee-san must have felt when she was teaching me and the guards back at the palace…' Jirou wore a reminiscent smile, 'Today's been such a good day…'

*Gacha!*

Suddenly, detecting an all too familiar presence ahead, his smile twitched up in annoyance as he sighed, "Sadly that good day has to end now…"

"Ah, Snowfl-! I-I mean Jirou, Jirou! How's my greatest best friend in the world doing!?" Creeping out of the door, Kai immediately bounded his way over to the Fox King's side, slinging his arm around his shoulder.

"Fine, how are you?" Jirou suspiciously kept his gaze forward, 'That was strange, I already lost the urge to scream…'

"Oh, you know…just lazing about and enjoying the match. You know, my usual thing…" Kai laughed rather forcibly.

"I see, well then, I'll leave you to it…"

"Ah, why the rush?" Kai pulled Jirou back by the collar much to the Fox King's annoyance. The [Queen] raised his hands in the air and coyly smiled, "S-Sorry…"

'Did he just…okay, what is going on…?' Jirou thought as he continued to play along.

"I have to use the bathroom."

"You do, but Saji-kun is already fighting Michael-san on the screen. Don't you think you can hold it in for a while?"

"I could, but were I to ask, I could probably get a recording after the match has been fully rated after today. Besides, its unhealthy to hold it in…"

"True…true…"

"Yeah, so bye…" Once again Kai tugged Jirou back to him but this time by the sleeve of his coat.

"Hey, how about you come in and say hello to the kids! They really miss their uncle, and it could be the perfect chance to finally meet Agnes-chan! Y-You know, my daughter, who's *COUGH!* cuteness is s-s-second to y-y-yo-Kunou's!" Kai nervously laughed amidst a coughing fit as blood spurted out his mouth.

"…What in the ever-loving Buddha was that?" Jirou was both stunned by the blood and that sudden admission.

"…N-Nothing it was *COUGH!* *COUGH!* nothing…" Kai fell to his knees as he coughed up more mouthfuls of blood.

"Kai, you're literally dying. What happened?"

"It's nothing…really. It's nothing… Also, do you remember how I sort of sent that fake recording to Yasaka? Well, I just wanted to ap-apo-apolog-hurk…"

*SPLASH!*

"I'm sorry…"

"What happened!?" Jirou worriedly knelt near Kai and rubbed the man's back, "You would never apologize for tricking me like that! Ever!" There were few times in his life that he had seen Kai act so uncharacteristically, but none of those times were as severe as this.

Shakily, Kai jabbed his thumb to the door behind him, "I need your help with…with…"

"Out with it already, prolonging it will just make whatever's happening to you worse!"

"I need you to help me deal with my wives…"

"…" Jirou immediately stood up and gave Kai the coldest of stares through lusterless gold and blue eyes.

"…So will you?"

"…Good luck…" Jirou turned away.

"No, wait!" Kai grasped Jirou's ankle, "How can you just leave me like this? After I literally shaved some years off my lifespan trying to get even for always messing with you?"

"Shut up, its gonna take your whole lifespan to reconcile for all of your stupid tricks, and I've never seen someone so visibly injured trying to admit they're wrong!" Jirou shouted, "If you can't handle it then call Katerea-san, isn't she Serafall's advisor? Maybe she could do something!"

"She turned me down! She's watching the Rating Game at home with Zethyr and her kid!" Kai explained.

"Well, sucks to be you! Besides, I don't want any part in the hole that you dug yourself into. If your still having trouble, then I don't know what to tell you besides go fuck yourself!"

"You coward take responsibility and help me! Aren't you one of the smartest people in the world, what happened to that old Fox monk friend of mine who would always think of a way out of a jam!?"

"Kai, I can't think my way out of one if you permanently put yourself into one by, oh, I don't know having a secret marriage with an angel in the middle of a devil civil war that you forcibly brought our companions and I into!" Jirou exclaimed.

"Like I said, there's a reason for that. The Old Satan Faction attempted to kidnap Gab-chan and manipulate her to use her holy light magic, I just so happened to be there to stop them. Since then we were…fairly close…and got together after I married Sera-chan."

"Yeah, so close that you failed to mention that tidbit to your wife along with the fact that you had a four-year-old daughter with Gabriel just four years after Shura's birth."

"A-Actually, Agnes was still being conceived in Gabriel after our first and only time together after the civil war due to some…interesting developments, so technically…"

"As if that makes it any better!" Jirou facepalmed.

"Look, its not as bad as it sounds."

"Hm!?"

"Okay, its as bad as it sounds, but on the bright side, they're not mad at me… Gab-chan is fairly accepting of the situation."

"Making you somewhat lucky that she's a literal angel…" Jirou commented.

"While the only one who's truly mad is Serafall at Gabriel because of that rivalry thing that they have going one…" Kai's shoulders slumped.

"And the added news of them both being your spouse, I presume?" Jirou pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, there's also that, shishishi…" Kai lightly chuckled.

"…So are the kids at least placating them…?" Jirou sighed, he might as well see the dumpster fire, "You told me they were getting along so that might temper Serafall to at least behave…"

"Actually, the two are really engrossed in the match especially Shura. Don't know why, but it might have had to do with his talk with Sona-chan." Just before sending Sona out to Rating Game, she pulled Shura over to the side for a quick chat before heading off, it must have been something important since it was rare for his son to be so calm and anxious instead of jumping about all happy.

"Okay, so…how bad are thing in there then?"

*Creeeak~!*

"Its best if you heard for yourself…" Kai silently creaked the door open by just a bit for Jirou to peep in and hear the two women talk.

Like his own VIP room, the room was opulent to the top with fancy fixtures and furniture that you would normally find in old western castles back in the day.

Sitting together on one of the luxurious couches just across from Shura and Agnes was the adorable and cute Serafall garbed in her formal Maou attire and to her side was a stunningly beautiful woman with curly blonde hair and a voluptuous figure that even Jirou had to bitterly admit barely surpassed his own buxom wife's. The light, sleeveless white gown that she wore was fairly modest and accentuated her more finer "assets".

This caused Jirou to finally ask Kai a question that he's been dying to for years, "Kai, when it comes to you're a certain body part on your wives…" He noticed the impressive busts of both Serafall and Gabriel, "Which would you prefer to think is your favorite…?"

"Hm?"

'This will make or break our friendship… Choose wisely my friend…' After just finding the Chosen One in Saji, Jirou was prepared to welcome Kai as his fellow Ass-brother or a hated enemy…a Boob-man…despicable.

"Actually, I was more attracted to how powerful the two were, so I don't really have a type…" Kai whispered.

"…Acceptable answer…" Jirou narrowed his eyes and nodded, "Plus, I'm not even surprised considering how much of a battle maniac you are."

"Shush. Listen…" Kai pointed to the two women.

"*COUGH!* *COUGH!* I-I'm really sorry, I hope you could forgive me… I'm still very lightheaded from this mor-*COUGH!* *COUGH!*" Gabriel's soft and sweet melodic voice was drowned out by a series of hacking and coughing into a red handkerchief.

'She's looking quite pale… Hold on, I see some strands of white fabric from it…' Jirou then realized that the handkerchief wasn't originally red, 'She's still sick after giving bir-?'

"Pay attention, Jirou." Kai reminded in a rather hostile tone.

"…Right… Sorry…" Jirou immediately casted the thought aside, the immediate response from Kai meant that the reincarnated devil could tell where his focus was on. He decided not to cross into unwarented territory and listen in.

"No, no, no, its fine… Its not like you have control over your body, you poor thing…" Serafall gently rubbed Gabriel's back in a pleasant fashion.

"I know, I just feel terrible that I might be ruining everyone's fun since I've been a bother because of my…*CO-COUGH!* illness…" Gabriel coughed, "I really wanted Agnes to have fun a trip around the Underworld, but she had to stay with me in the hotel just because I was too weak from the train ride here." The poor child was a shy one, even when offered by some Angels to guide her around, she refused to go anywhere without her mother.

"Trust me, your no bother at all, it has to be really tough to force yourself to come here anyway so don't beat yourself up, okay?" Serafall gave Gabriel a warm smile, "Besides, the children are enjoying themselves. Shura was able to guide her around the Sitri territory and they've been stuck to the hip ever since."

A literal example of that saying stood right before them as both of the siblings sat closely together, wrapping their monkey tails around each other's waists.

"See?"

A smile crept up onto Gabriel's tired face as she said, "You're right, and I'm very glad that they're getting along…"

"Me too, to be honest, my Shura-chan is the best, but Agnes-chan is simply just the cutest! You raised that little cinnamon bun up right!" Serafall squealed.

"…I don't see the problem here, Serafall is being very respectful. I think you might be overreacting, K-."

"Why thank you, Serafall." Gabriel lightly laughed.

"Don't mention it, home wrecker…" Serafall's cute smile adopted a venomous tone for a split second.

"What?" Gabriel didn't quite catch that last part.

"Hm?" Serafall played it of with a bit of humming.

With widened eyes, Jirou whispered, "On second thought, I see it now."

"See?" Kai gulped.

"Say, harl-Gabe-chan, I know just the thing to help make you feel better." Serafall put a hand to her mouth and giggled.

"You do?"

"Yup, its fairly simple, there's this technique that we devils use to cure ailments by submerging body parts into water that we imbue with healing magic. Consider it like holy water except this will cleanse your sickness."

"Truly?"

"Of course, it'll be real quick. We can use a bathroom sink and get it over with fast. Also, you need someone to hold your hair and hold down your head just to ensure the process is properly done."

"R-Really, you would do that for me?" Gabriel's eyes innocently sparkled at the "selfless" offer.

"Of course. As a Magical Girl it is my duty to help all those in need!" Serafall raised her hand to the do the Magical Girl Milky spiral peace pose, but instead of the peace sign were two crossed fingers…

'Oh no…' Kai and Jirou blanched after hearing this.

"T-Thank you, Serafall, I-I don't know what to say." Gabriel tearfully accepted Serafall's outreached hand as both women stood up.

"Don't mention it, but there's also one thing that the ailed one must never do during the process…" Serafall gave Gabriel a closed eyed smile the same as Kai's.

"Yes?" Gabriel innocently blinked.

Serafall's eyes opened partway to reveal a dangerous pair of lusterless violet eyes.

"The ailed one under no circumstance should struggle, tap the counter for air, scream, use holy magic, pray, and call for Kai-tan's help, understood?"

"I fully understand, I won't let Serafall's good will be w-w-*COUGH!* Wasted!" Determined, Gabriel naively complied with the demands without a single thought.

"Trust me, Gab-chan, my good will won't be the one that's getting wasted today…" Serafall smirked.

And that was all Jirou needed to see…

"SAVE HER!" Kai yelled.

"THERE WILL BE NO DROWNING OF ANGELS TODAY!" Jirou yelled back and raised his leg to the door in order to put an end to the madness taking place in front of him.

*SLAM!*