"Wow, this is so awesome!"
Ayaka pressed her face against the reinforced glass window of the speeding train, her eyes sparkling as she stared out at the ever-shifting, kaleidoscopic chaos of the dimensional void.
Outside, colors twisted into lights of neon violet and deep crimson and hundreds of colors, like starlight. There was no sky, no ground.
"Amazing…" Aoi muttered beside her. Her voice was quieter. She leaned in, watching the way the gap looked. It was beautiful.
"I never expected to go to Hell on a train," Asia Argento said softly, her hands clasped over her cross necklace. She looked a bit pale, but her eyes remained kind as she watched the two sisters' excitement.
"I know, right?" Ayaka shot back immediately, grinning. "This is so cool! Is this how you always go to Hell and back? Like a regular commute? Do you have monthly passes for this?"
"Nope," Issei Hyoudou replied, leaning back in his velvet seat with his hands behind his head. He was trying to look cool for the girls, but the way his leg was bouncing suggested he was feeling anxious about the trip, too. "Last time, we went courtesy of Grayfia's magic, and we came back on griffins. It was pretty sweet."
"Grayfia?" Ayaka asked, turning away from the window.
"She's my big brother's Queen," Rias Gremory answered casually, looking up from a set of cards she had been playing with the others. "The strongest Queen in the Underworld, and arguably one of the most powerful beings in our society."
"Then why the train now?" Aoi asked, finally moving back to her seat and smoothing out her skirt. "If magic is faster, why take the scenic route? Is it a security thing?"
"Well," Akeno Himejima said, her voice a gentle purr as she poured a fresh round of tea, the steam smelling of mountain herbs. "This is a more proper trip. All new devils and their guests are expected to enter the Underworld through the appropriate, formalized channels. Think of it as an official entry through the front gate rather than jumping the fence."
Before anyone could add more, the overhead speaker crackled with a burst of static that sounded like distant thunder.
"Attention. We will soon arrive at the Sitri Domain."
"Sitri Domain?" Ayaka and Issei said in unison, looking equally confused.
Before Rias could give an answer, the door at the end of the carriage slid open. Sona Sitri stepped through, followed closely by her Vice President and queen, Tsubaki Shinra, and her Pawn, Saji Genshirou. Sona looked as composed as ever, her glasses glinting under the chandeliers of the train, her blue uniform sharp and without a single wrinkle.
"Yooo, Hyoudou!" Saji waved, his grin a of excitement seeing his friend and rival.
"Saji! Student council prez and VP!" Issei called back, standing up.
"Good to see you, Sona. How have you been?" Rias said, dropping the cards she and the others had been playing to pass the time.
"I am doing quite well, thank you," Sona replied, her voice a cool contrast to the warmth of the cabin. She adjusted her glasses, her gaze briefly sweeping over the interior. "Since you were kind enough to allow us passage on the Gremory train, I thought I would check in before we disembark at my family's estate."
"I'm Fine... if not a bit anxious," Rias admitted, her smile turning a bit more serious.
"Perfectly understandable," Sona replied. Her gaze shifted, landing squarely on Ayaka and Aoi. Ayaka waved cheerfully, while Aoi gave a polite nod.
Sona turned back to Rias, her voice dropping low. "I still would have preferred if you had informed me of this matter before you went through with it, Rias. I know how stubborn you can be, but playing with this fire is one thing, inviting the Takahashi sisters into the Underworld is another entirely. You are inviting a trouble rias."
Rias didn't need to ask for clarification. Sona had been vocal in her disapproval when she first heard of the plan, warning Rias that if the "Golden Beast" took offense, the fallout would be a catastrophe that could destabilize the current peace they were working towards. And she was right, Kenji was just that unpredictable and powerful as he had shown.
Rias sighed, looking at her friends. She would be lying if she said she didn't want the girls in her peerage eventually, but this trip wasn't a recruitment drive. She had genuinely begun to consider Ayaka as her friend, and Aoi was a close friend to Koneko, hell, the only friend in fact that was not a part of her peerage, and she was thankful for that.
She hoped that by showing them the beauty and culture of the Underworld, she could bridge the gap of hostility their father held toward the devils as a whole.
"Just... be careful, Rias," Sona finished quietly. "If anything happened to them, it won't end well, that I know for sure."
Sona was a little worried, to be honest, and why wouldn't she be, every time she had met the man, he was always demonstrating his power, and each time seemed greater than the last. The first time she saw him, he killed a leader class fallen angel. After that was the meeting where he killed hundreds of fallen, devils, and humans, and then proceeded to beat the hell out of the white dragon emperor. What made her even more wary was that her sister had admitted that Kenji could be as strong as her, if not a bit weaker, and that scared Sona.
She knew just how powerful Serafall was, and to have an enemy like that was not something she wanted.
While the Kings spoke, Saji was busy badgering Issei. "So you guys are going to the Underworld for training too, right, bro?"
"Huh?" Issei blinked.
"Up until now, we were only told we were accompanying Rias on break. Nobody mentioned 'training'," Xenovia Quarta added, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, her eyes sharpening at the prospect of training.
"Oh. Well, I'm about to go work my butt off," Saji grinned, punching his palm. "My King has a brutal regimen planned out for us. Next time we meet up, I'll be way stronger than you got it, Hyoudou? Don't fall behind!"
"Tch—like hell you will! I'll double whatever you do!" Issei shot back, his competitive spirit flaring.
"Saji. It's time," Sona called, her tone brooking no delay. She turned one last time to the Takahashi sisters. "I do hope your trip to the Underworld is pleasant and enjoyable."
She gave Rias a final, meaningful smile. "Goodbye... and good luck. You're going to need it."
"Goodbye, Sona," Rias replied.
As the door clicked shut behind the Sitri peerage, the cabin fell into the comfortable silence, broken only by the softening clack of the wheels as the train began its descent into the Underworld.
"What was that about?" Ayaka asked immediately, her eyes narrowing.
"What was what?" Rias asked.
Ayaka gave her a flat, unimpressed look. "The 'matters' she mentioned. She meant us, didn't she? We aren't exactly invisible, Rias. Is our being here a problem?"
Rias sighed, leaning back into the cushions. Akeno giggled softly, clearly finding her King's predicament amusing.
"It's just that... given the current relationship between your family and the devils, rather, your father and the devils, it wasn't exactly a 'wise' move for me to invite you along," Rias admitted. "Sona is concerned that the Underworld might react poorly to the daughters of a man who basically put a ban on his city for devils and fallen."
Both girls stiffened. The mention of their father had them rigid. Akeno didn't miss the way Aoi's fingers curled into the fabric of her skirt, nor the flash of defensiveness in Ayaka's eyes.
"So what? Just because of our dad, the Underworld would... what? Raise a fuss? Start a war because two teenagers are on a train?" Ayaka said, her voice rising.
Akeno giggled again, shaking her head. "Not entirely that wording, but your father is strong, Ayaka. He's proven that already, and he doesn't seem to tolerate people who go against him. As his daughters, if anything, even a minor accident, were to happen to you here, it would no doubt be a disaster. We would be facing the wrath of a man who has already proven alone he's powerful enough to be a challenge."
"Is he really that strong? Compared to... people like you? Or the leaders?" Aoi asked, her voice low as she looked at her feet. She knew her father was strong, but she really never asked where he was compared to beings like devil, dragons, and gods.
Rias and Akeno exchanged a long, weighted glance. Rias spoke first, her voice carefully measured. "We aren't exactly sure how powerful your dad is, Aoi. But from the little everyone knows, he is already classified as a Leader-class being. That makes him as powerful as gods. Maybe even as powerful as god-kings like Odin or Zeus."
The girls froze. To them, Kenji was just the man who complained about them leaving their shoes in the hall and made sure they did their homework while cracking awful dad jokes sometimes.
"If I were to put it in easier terms for you," Rias continued, her face turning very serious. "We'll say your dad is among the top forty strongest beings in the entire world. At the very least."
"That means," Akeno added, leaning in, "in a world consisting of thousands of powerful beings, ancient monsters, and divine entities, your father stands ahead of nearly every one of them. And that's just based on what everyone has seen. We're not really sure if he's even higher on that list."
Silence filled the cabin. Ayaka's mouth hung open slightly. Aoi looked like she wanted to disappear into her seat.
Their dad never really gave off that impression. Was he truly that powerful. Top forty. That was....it was just unbelievable. And now that being was in Kyoto, not even knowing they were here, oh, he was going to be so mad when he found out.
See, Rias and the others believed they were here with Kenji's permission. They assumed that their father had agreed to this trip as a gesture of peace of a sort.
But the truth was far uglier. See, the morning after the talk with their mother, it turns out she had told their father, and he was not happy with his daughters going to hell.
There was shouting that morning, arguments, and the cold, absolute certainty with which he said "No" that had followed when they had begged him to go. They remembered their father's fury at their mother for having even entertained the idea.
'He's going to kill us,' Ayaka thought, her bravado finally cracking. 'If he finds out... oh god, I'll be grounded till I'm an old woman.'
Aoi and Ayaka gave each other a side glance as they both swallowed hard. This was bad. Very, very bad.
Back in the Human World – Shizuoka
Kenji was beyond pissed. He was beyond furious.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?!"
BOOM!
A burst of gravity exploded from his body, a violet shockwave that sent the furnitures flying into the wall and shattered windows in the living room. He didn't care. He was pacing the room, his breathing ragged, his mana fluctuating so wildly in the air.
"Calm down... damn it, Kenji, calm down..."
He forced himself to stop, taking deep, shuddering breaths. He waved a hand, pulling the furniture back into place. He collapsed onto the couch, burying his face in his hands.
He needed to get them. Now. Before some foolish Devil tried to "recruit" them, or worse, before some enemy of the Gremorys tried to use his daughters as leverage or some shit like that.
He summoned the Yamato. The blade hummed in his grip, as if sensing his murderous rage. This sword could cut through dimensions, though Kenji didn't know how to do that. He could teleport with it, sure, but that was to places he's been to.
"Underworld... focus... focus..."
He visualized Rias since that was the only thing he could use. He gripped the hilt and slashed downward, a silver arc cutting through the fabric of space.
SHRRRRRK!
A rift tore open, but instead of the Underworld, a terrifying, swirling vortex of nothingness and endless colors began to pour out. The air in the room was instantly sucked toward the rift, and a freezing, soul-chilling pressure began to burn Kenji's skin.
"—!"
He slammed the rift shut with a burst of mana, staggering back as his hands trembled. The skin on his forearms was red, as if he'd been dipped in liquid nitrogen.
"Damn it... the Dimension Gap." Hey, he was still human, and humans can't really stand the gap.
He clicked his tongue. Without a precise location, blindly cutting into the Underworld was like trying to hit a specific grain of sand in a hurricane. One wrong move and he could accidentally open a hole into another dimension and start trouble with someone else, or worse, draw the attention of the Great Red.
He gritted his teeth, his mind racing. Suddenly, his phone vibrated on the table.
He looked down. The caller ID flashed, Yasaka.
His mind immediately jumped to the "meeting" he had just walked out of in Kyoto. Azazel. The Crow. Azazel lived in the Underworld.
That seemed to make him grit his teeth even harder at the thought of asking that dusty crow.
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