Chapter 204 — Darkness Witch Talon

Yuki

After being introduced on the stage to the crowd of fans, we were directed to an area where we would be able to greet fans and sign autographs.

My ears were still ringing slightly from the cheers of the children in the audience when Issei was announced as the Oppai Dragon.

Yuuto was introduced first and received boos from the children and cheers from the older audience members.

There were even some catcalls and whistles from the crowd.

Yuuto simply smiled and waved, ignoring the overexcited reaction from some of the audience.

I was introduced next as the new villainess of the series.

I waved out to the audience and also received boos from the children and cheers from the older fans.

My ears twitched, and I had to stop a scowl from forming when I heard a shout of ‘Step on me, Talon-sama!’ from somewhere in the crowd.

Rias was introduced next to cheers from the audience and excited squeals from the children.

Rias received cries of her name from the crowd but was used to this level of popularity already, so she handled it just fine.

Last, Issei was announced, and the cheers from the children in the crowd became deafening.

The shouts of oppai and Oppai Dragon blocked out every other sound.

Issei had energetically waved to the crowd, and the cheers only got louder.

Now the audience was lined up in different queues to meet each of us and get autographs.

Most of the children present had lined up to meet Issei and Rias, with Issei having the largest line out of the three of us.

Yuuto and I understandably weren’t nearly as popular with the children due to being villain characters, and instead had older fans and parents in our lines.

The older fans were potentially also fans of ours from the Sitri Rating Game that was televised. 

The meet and greet began, and all four of us began to greet and sign autographs for the fans.

It was a blur of different faces.

Each person only had so long to say hello and ask for a piece of merchandise or a book to be autographed.

Overall, things went fairly well.

There were a few incidents during the meet and greet.

There was a boy who decided he wanted to copy the show and poked Rias’s breast while she was signing an autograph for him.

Rias let out a surprised shout, and Issei started to shout at the kid who did it.

Rias was able to calm him down and get him to go back to greeting the fans in his line.

There was also another little boy who tried to fight Yuuto and ‘beat the bad guy’ until his parents apologized and pulled him away.

I had a few incidents in my line as well.

I had the expected reactions to my outfit.

Some parents gave me disapproving looks while other fans appreciated the fan service style of clothes that Serafall-sama had given me.

Rias, Yuuto, and I each had to deal with fans who were interested in us as more than just characters.

It was easy enough to move them along, as each person only got a small amount of time to meet with us. 

Perhaps due to our villain characters or our more mature-themed costumes, we attracted the attention of the stranger kinds of fans.

Like the one who had shouted out to me during our time on stage.

The strangest thing to happen in my line was that Serafall-sama appeared.

I had just finished signing a little boy's notebook while his mother gave me a look that seemed a bit too interested in my costume.

As they left, I turned to the next fan in line and straightened immediately as Serafall-sama stepped forward with a smile. 

“Hi, Yuki-chan☆! I wanted to see you at your first big event!” She said with an energetic wave.

“Hello, Serafall-sama,” I replied with a bow.

She was dressed in casual clothes rather than the magical girl outfit she normally wore.

“Oh, you don’t need to be like that! Even though I'm sad you’ll be a part of the Oppai Dragon show instead of Miracle☆Levia-tan, you can still relax around me,” Serafall-sama said with a grin. “Oh, but I only have so much time, so please sign this!”

Serafall-sama pulled a statuette of Darkness Witch Talon from her bag.

I blinked as she thrust it into my hands.

I looked at the high-quality statuette of myself.

It was the size of a desk lamp and looked rather expensive.

“Serafall-sama, I thought that any of the merchandise for my character wasn’t going to be sold yet?”

“Well, since you weren’t able to be a part of my show, Sirzechs-chan offered to let me get first dibs on any merch I wanted☆! This one will be coming out later this year, but I managed to get a unique one! This one is the only one that has removable clothes!”

I stared at her and realized that I would need to have a chat with Rias regarding any merchandise sold based on me.

I took my pen and signed the base of the statuette.

“Thanks, Yuki-chan! I’ll see you later! We will have to talk about crossovers we could do later! Bye☆!”

Serafall-sama hugged the statuette and left.

I didn’t have time to collect my thoughts or recover before it was the next fan's turn.

The rest of the event wrapped up simply enough after that. 

The four of us made our way back to the break room we first teleported into after that.

Issei’s armor disappeared into motes of light as he let it release.

Yuuto, Rias, and I would have to wait to change until we made it back to the house.

I moved to sit next to Koenko on a plush-looking couch.

She had a plate of fruit in front of her and half of a banana in her hand.

I took off my witch’s hat and placed it on her head as I sat next to her on the couch.

Koneko’s cat ears poked up through the holes in the hat and twitched cutely.

I grabbed an apple and bit into it as I leaned back into the couch. 

“…Did you have fun, senpai?” Koneko asked.

“If participating wasn't pushed onto me, and I didn’t get odd looks from fans and parents, it would have been enjoyable. But I don’t think this kind of thing is really for me,” I said before taking another bite of my apple. “What were all of you up to while we were busy?”

“Gya-kun played on a handheld game console the whole time since he didn’t want to leave the room,” Koneko said, pointing at Gasper-kun, who was sitting on another couch still playing video games.

“The rest of us went out to watch the event for a bit but came back once you were signing autographs for a while. We were just waiting for the four of you to finish.”

I looked around and didn’t see Asia or Akeno.

“Where are Asia and Akeno-san now?”

Koneko frowned.

“…Akeno-senpai wanted to go home early. She seemed like she wasn’t in a very good mood. Asia-senpai noticed and went back with her so she wouldn’t be alone at the house, since Irina-senpai is busy today.”

It was good that Asia stayed with her, but it was worrying that she headed back to the house without the rest of us.

Unless something changed with her father, she would likely be in a poor mood until we were no longer required to guard Odin-sama.

I looked back across the room and saw Ravel-san handing a towel to Issei.

He took it and wiped away the sweat that had built up during the event. 

“Thank you, Ravel. Those lines were longer than I expected.”

Ravel-san turned her nose up at him as she replied.

“O-of course! This is all a part of my t-training. It is nice to see the children of the underworld so excited and happy. A-And that’s why I’m here! Not because I wanted to help Ise-sama, or the rest of the Gremory Group!” Ravel declared, turning slightly pink.

She seemed rather flustered for someone who happened to run into us by chance.

“But you seemed rather happy to see us, particularly Issei and Yuki,” Xenovia commented.

Ravel-san glanced at me as she sputtered, trying to respond.

“I-I merely was glad to see that y-your group was on time! A-As for Issei-sama and Yuki-sama, I was glad to see my acquaintances!”

“…You did stare at Yuki-senpai’s outfit pretty closely,” Koenko said with narrowed eyes.

“But you were too, Koneko. I did too. It looks nice on her,” Xenovia added.

I gave Xenovia a dull look, but she just tilted her head slightly in response.

“Thank you for sharing, Xenovia.”

“You’re welcome.”

I shook my head at her response.

“Yuki-sama, you didn’t mention in your last letter that you would be a part of the Oppai Dragon show,” Ravel-san asked. “Did you make the decision recently, or were you not allowed to mention it?”

I sighed.

“It was something that I learned about yesterday, actually. I didn’t really have much of a say in it. The matter. And I am sorry that I haven’t replied to your last letter yet. I’ll write to you in the next few days.”

“Do not worry, Yuki-sama. I’m sure that you’ve been rather busy recently. I’m r-rather busy myself s-so. J-Just write to me whenever you get the chance. I can wait,” Ravel said with a huff.

It seemed like she couldn’t drop the haughty act completely.

“Everyone, it’s time to head back to the human world,” Rias announced.

She and Yuuto walked over to the magic circle on the other side of the room. 

“Ah, that’s right. We have to guard that geezer after this. Hopefully it won’t be too annoying,” Issei muttered.

“Yes, we do,” Rias said to Issei. “Ravel, thank you for your help today. Good work.”

Ravel blushed again.

“T-There is no need to thank me. As I said, this is all for learning to support others.”

“You were still a big help, Ravel,” Issei said. “Plus, it was nice having someone familiar to help us out.”

“W-Well then be sure to call me for the next event. If you need me, then I will d-definitely help you. I-If I have the availability, of course!” Ravel said as she crossed her arms.

We all gathered up, and after a few moments, the magic circle activated and we speared in the basement of the Hydouou house.

Home once again.

Yuuto

After working as Odin-sama’s guards for most of the day, Issei-san, Gasper-kun, Yuki-san, Xenovia, and I were at an Underworld training ground.

We had followed Odin-sama around different tourist spots in Japan.

He had treated the whole thing like a sightseeing tour.

I think both Buchou and Ise-kun were ready to strangle him by the time we were done.

We stopped at three different bars and waited outside while he, Rossweisse-san, and Barakqiel-san went in.

Thankfully, Yuki-san could hide us with illusions so that people didn’t see a group of high schoolers hanging around outside a bar.

Issei had complained about our presence being completely unnecessary, and I had to agree to an extent.

But now we were at the Underworld training ground that Sirzechs-sama and Azazel-sensei had created for our peerage to use in the Gremory territory.

It had been designed to withstand the strength of our group and was a reward for how we handled the Khaos Brigade attack during what was supposed to be our match against Diodora Astaroth.

A specialized training facility was something that most high-class Devils who are active in Rating Games had.

Buchou having access to one was an exception, and the only other young Devil to have access to one was Sairaorg-san.

Ise-kun and I normally sparred and trained with each other, with Gasper-kun acting as the referee for our spars and training here too.

It was one of the few times that I could get Ise-kun alone, for the most part.

But today, Xenovia and Yuki-san decided to join us as well.

I knew that the two of them had as much right to use this training ground as we did, but I was still annoyed that they had intruded on my time with Ise-kun.

I sighed and readied my stance as I stood across from Ise-kun for our spar. 

Xenovia, Yuki-san, and Gasper-kun stood off to the side to watch our spar. 

“Are you ready?” Gasper-kun asked while holding a large bell and mallet.

I nodded.

“Yep!” Ise-kun shouted.

He had already summoned his armor, as we wanted to spar at our full strength.

“R-Ready…and… Go!” Gasper-kun shouted as he struck the bell.

As the sound of the bell rang out, I dashed to the side as Ise-kun’s boosters activated, and he shot towards me. 

I managed to stay ahead of him, but he began to activate his Boost and catch up to me.

[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]

I turned and swung my sword to try to catch Ise-kun off guard as he closed the distance between us.

He managed to draw Ascalon and block my blow.

We began to exchange blows, and I was able to quickly begin to push Ise-kun back.

For all of his power, I was still a much superior swordsman.

My blade began to move faster and faster as he struggled to fend off my attack.

He realized he was losing and activated his boosters again, closing the distance between us.

He tried to hit me in my side with his fist, but his attack was too telegraphed.

I couldn’t manage to hurt him normally due to how strong his armor was, but that didn’t mean there was no way to deal a meaningful blow.

I countered his attack by twisting out of the way and striking the side of his helmet with the pommel of my sword.

I could tell that my attack dazed him.

He tried to back away, but I quickly summoned another sword and used it to freeze his foot to the floor.

His retreat was halted, and he looked down at his leg in surprise.

The ice had traveled halfway up his leg and covered his other foot as well.

“It’s my holy demonic sword of ice,” I commented as I summoned a second sword. 

The second sword crackled with electricity in my grip.

With my holy demonic sword of lightning, I’ll be able to damage Ise-kun through his armor.

As I swung my sword to end our spar, a pair of red Dragon wings sprouted from Ise-kun’s armor, and the claws at the ends grabbed my hands, stopping my attack and holding me in place. 

“Ha! Bet you didn’t expect that!” Ise-kun shouted.

He swung his fist towards my stomach.

I grinned as I kicked my leg up to block it and summoned another holy demonic sword from my foot to block his attack.

As our two attacks were about to collide, Gasper-kun struck his bell.

“T-That’s time! S-Stop! The spar is over!” Gasper-kun shouted.

Ise-kun and I froze in place before our attacks could land.

I backed away from Ise-kun as he broke himself out of the ice around his legs.

I smiled at Ise-kun after he freed himself and let his armor disappear.

He grinned back at me.

We were both sweaty and panting slightly.

“This time it’s a draw,” I said.

“I nearly had you. I need to win a few times to even out our record,” he said as he shook his head.

That made me smile wider.

“You’ll have to wait until next time for another chance.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

The pleasant atmosphere between us was broken as Yuki-san spoke up.

“That was impressive, but could you wait to flirt later? It’s Xenovia and my turn now.”

I immediately turned red.

“T-That wasn’t— we were just talking about our spar!”

Ise-kun’s ears turned red.

“Why would you think that, Yuki-san?!” He asked.

Yuki-san gave the two of us an unimpressed look.

“Is that another form of flirting? It’s different from what I’ve heard of,” Xenovia murmured.

I recalled learning about Xenovia’s misunderstanding of what flirting was.

I glanced at Ise-kun and felt my face flush further.

“L-Let’s just get out of the way so that they can spar, Ise-kun.”

The two of us moved over to stand with Gasper-kun as Yuki-san and Xenovia got ready to face off. 

Xenovia opened her dimensional storage and pulled Durandel from it.

Yuki-san took a combat stance as she stood across from Xenovia.

“A-Are you both ready?” Gasper-kun asked.

Xenovia and Yuki-san nodded.

“Are we still on our wager?” Xenovia asked as she rested her sword on her shoulder.

Yuki-san nodded.

“I’m still fine with it if you are.”

Xenovia nodded as she took a stance with her sword.

Gasper-kun readied his bell.

“O-Okay…. Ready… Go!”