Ch 356: Chisato is my girlfriend!

Sakura slowly opened her eyes as she woke up and smiled. She pushed away the covers, revealing her naked body as well as the black leather sleeping bag she had used as a body pillow.

Her smile turned into a grin as she ran her hands over the leather tightly covering Kanna's breasts, squeezing them gently.

"Mfphan!" groaned Kanna, her voice muffled by the red wiffle gag filling her mouth. Her muscles tensed under the leather, but between the tight material fitting her perfectly, the six leather straps adding pressure on her body, and the four taut straps anchoring the sleeping bag to the bed's corners, all she could do was wriggle a little.

Sakura lazily undid the leather strap holding the perforated ball of rubber inside Kanna's mouth and removed it, but didn't remove the black leather hood that kept Kanna in darkness.

Sakura reached for a remote whose wire disappeared into the bag and turned the knob, making the pill vibrator come alive. She then positioned herself to straddle Kanna's head and lowered herself to press her crotch on Kanna's mouth.

Kanna was reluctant for a few seconds, but after a week of relentless training and five days of a similar wake-up routine, she knew that she couldn't refuse.

Sakura wasn't going to let her out of the sack before she licked her to orgasm.

With a short sigh, she parted her lips and extended her tongue, exploring Sakura's crotch for a few seconds, then went at it vigorously, wanting to get it over and done with as soon as possible.

"Yes, that's it, slave. Please your Mistress." sighed Sakura in pleasure.

She wasn't completely satisfied by Kanna's efforts, as she wanted her to focus on bringing as much pleasure as possible to her mistress rather than rush it, but she would fix that later.

Maybe she wouldn't even have to say anything about it. Kanna wore one of the special collars, and her initially staunch reluctance to lesbian acts was steadily eroding. It would still take a while before Kanna genuinely enjoyed munching pussy, but she would get there.

Kanna's own arousal was flaring up at a speed that would have astonished her a month ago. Over the last week of training inside the Sanctuary, she had been brought to the edge of orgasm over two hundred times and had only been allowed to cum once.

Sakura's arousal grew until she couldn't hold herself anymore, and with a lustful moan, she came, spraying some of her juices in and around Kanna's mouth.

Breathing hard, she moved to sit beside Kanna and used her fingers to collect the juices on Kanna's lower face. She plunged them into Kanna's mouth, who groaned but started licking.

"Good girl." encouraged Sakura. "Lick you Mistress's fingers clean."

Sakura repeated the process until there were no more juices to collect, then undid the straps on the sleeping bag. She slowly opened the zipper then helped Kanna sit up. She would already have been covered with a sheen of sweet, if not for the bag having absorbed it.

Sakura started undoing the laces of Kanna's leather helmet, but stopped midway to swat Kanna's hands before she could reach her crotch.

"Bad Slave, you don't get to touch yourself without permission. Have I given permission?"

"But I need it so bad, Mistress." whined Kanna. "The vibrator is still on, and I can't take it!"

Sakura considered for a few seconds as she completely undid the laces and removed the helmet, and sighed. She turned the vibrator off and pulled it out of Kanna's drenched, pulsing pussy.

"I will let you cum, slave. Not because you deserve it after you just acted like a bad slave, but because you need to be able to focus during class. When we return and resume your training, however, I will properly punish you for your lack of control."

"T-Thank you, Mistress." replied Kanna. She didn't have the mental bandwidth to worry about the punishment she would get later. All she cared about what that she was finally going to be able to satisfy the fire in her loins.

Sakura got her completely out of the sleeping bag and got her on all four. She connected a leach to the back of Kanna's collar and quickly put on her favorite strap-on.

She positioned herself behind Kanna, entered her, and only then removed the Stop Rune as she pulled on the leach and started moving her hips.

"Ag…Ah… Ahhh…" moaned Kanna as the orgasm finally came like a crashing wave. She felt her mind go blank under the intense pleasure, and by the time the orgasm faded, another was already building.

Sakura, feeling generous, fucked Kanna roughly for several minutes rather than stop after Kanna's first orgasm.

When she stopped, Kanna's head was pressed against the mattress, having lost the ability to support herself with her arms.

"Thank you, Mistress." panted Kanna.

"You're welcome, Kanna." smiled Sakura as she removed her strap-on.

Kanna's breathing stopped for an instant before resuming, and she looked back at Sakura.

"You called me by my name, Mistress."

"Yes. Does that make you happy?" smiled Sakura.

"…A little." admitted Kanna.

"Me calling you by your name signals a pause in your training. So call me Sakura, until we resume it. Get up, we need to take a shower. We have a long day in front of us."

"I'm already feeling tired." sighed Kanna. "I can't sleep well in that thing."

"Give it time. You're already starting to like being bound. Am I wrong?"

Kanna really wanted to lie, but she knew that Sakura would see through it.

It was true, and she hated herself for the way her body was adapting so quickly to the role Sakura had set for her. Or had she been a closet pervert all along, and Sakura's training had only revealed what was buried under the surface?

All she knew was that being bound and forced to wear fetish outfits felt a lot less unpleasant now that it felt the first night, and that it started to make her aroused by itself.

Sakura seemed to read her mind and leaned toward her, kissing her forehead.

"Do not fight it, Kanna. The training ensures that you, too, will be happy as part of Master's harem. It ensure that you won't dread Master's summon in the future."

Kanna nodded as she could see the logic.

"I know, but… This is still pure torture, to be edged again and again."

"If you can come up with another method to nurture your submissiveness, it isn't too late to change, you know? Should we copy Emi's training?" chuckled Sakura.

"No!" exclaimed Kanna in an instant knee-jerk reaction.

"I thought so." grinned Sakura as she led Kanna into the bathroom and started the shower.

Rin, Emi's personal trainer, had asked Emi the same question than Sakura did, and Emi's answer had horrified both Kanna and Emi herself.

Emi's idea of efficient slave training, as it turned out, consisted of her being tied down to a piece of furniture with toys edging her, while being forced to watch two or more people having sex with each other, and not caring about her.

If Kanna though that denied sexual pleasure would be effective at breaking her down, Emi had gone further and added a major dose of humiliation to it.

"Step into the shower, Kanna." said Sakura as she took set of black and purple sport underwear from her inventory. "I'll go do my daily run and pushups. It will take me less than ten minutes. Then it will be my turn to shower. Ah, but before I forget…"

Sakura removed the Stop rune preventing Kanna from using Magecraft, only to replace it by another sealing her orgasms away, and Kanna sighed as Sakura left the bathroom.

…

Realizing their mistake with coming as a single group the day before, the girls separated into three groups, and entered the academy and the admission office at different times.

The registration done, Shuuko led Emi and Kanna out of the office. But the atmosphere between them was awkward.

"Are you going to cling to your resentment forever?" sighed Shuuko as the silence frayed her nerves.

"You should have warned us." glared Emi. Kanna nodded.

"Easy for you to say. In my shoes, would you have told me and Kanna? …It wasn't just that it would have been so embarrassing. I also didn't want to risk you girls throwing away the benefits you're about to receive and deciding to stay over there, where we wouldn't be able to see each other."

"And it turns out that we would have been able to meet after all, if we remained behind." sighed Kanna.

"Yes, but I didn't know that at the time. What would you have done?"

"…Alright, I get it!" grumbled Kanna. "I'm not actually angry at you. Not really. it's just that you're an easier target than Mis… Sakura, so I'm using you to vent my frustration."

"I'd have done the same, I suppose" conceded Emi. "But the things they did to…"

Emi's words trailed off as a student that was coming down the hallway stopped in front of Shuuko. He was rather short, had his head shaved bald, and was very sweaty. The guy was almost vibrating with nervousness as he bowed to her.

"P-P-Please e-excuse-me. W-Would you p-please g-go out with m-me?"

"What's your name?" asked Shuuko, repressing her instinctive revulsion. If this guy had the courage to ask her out, she should at least reject him without being harsh.

Looking farther down the hallway, she could see another student, a tall one with light brown hair, watching them from behind a corner.

"I am Po. Po Tato, second son of baron Tato." said the bald one.

"I am Shuuko Aikawa." nodded Shuuko as she blinked at his name.

"I am flattered by your interest, but I already have a boyfriend." said Shuuko with a neutral tone.

"I-I see." said Po, looking down, instantly looking depressed like a kid who had been told Santa wasn't real.

"Now if you'll excuse us…" said Emi as they resumed their walk.

"His parents named him Po." sighed Kanna once they were out of earshot. "Poor guy, that's almost child abuse. He must have been teased a lot when he was younger."

Emi and Shuuko nodded, feeling pity for the boy.

They found Rin and Sakura chatting with another girl in another hallway and exchanged a quick, barely perceptible nod as they passed.

For now, they didn't want to draw too much attention. If the Cult of Diablos hadn't spotted the seven of them acting together previously and only paid attention to Alexia's surroundings, they would only notice Takina and Chisato. A single pair of new faces wouldn't alarm them.

Shuuko, Kanna and Emi would coordinate with the others every night, but during school day, they would have no contact unless something happened.

…

"Too bad we won't be in the same classroom." complained Chisato to Claire and Alexia.

"It can't be helped." shrugged Takina. "We're freshmen and they are second-years."

"That's right." nodded Claire. "But we can still hang out during lunch break and after class, and the fencing lessons are by level, not seniority. Once people witness your strength, we'll get to spar a lot with each other without it being suspicious."

"Yes, that will be fun!" nodded Chisato. "Much better that other schools where you spend the whole day with your butt glued to a chair."

"We're inside an academy created to nurture the kingdom's armed forces." shrugged Alexia. "It wouldn't make sense to do only theorical studies."

She looked around making sure no one was within earshot, before asking with a low voice.

"How are you going to identify the members of the Cult of Diablos?"

"We have an ability that lets us know when someone is lying, but we can't exactly ask around without attracting attention." replied Takina in a whisper. "We plan to just wait until they make their move."

"I thought a lot about it last night." nodded Alexia. "You said they're after my blood, right? So they want to capture me, not kill me."

"Yes." nodded Chisato. "Presumably, they'll want you alive so they can collect more blood over time. Are you suggesting what I think you are?"

"If you're thinking about me volunteering myself to be captured and bought to their base, then no. I'm not crazy. But I'd like you to teach me Magecraft, just in case they succeed. This way, I could fight even if they take my sword."

"…Alright." nodded Chisato. "Rin and Sakura are the most knowledgeable in Magecraft among us, but they're busy teaching our exclusive skills to Emi and Kanna. Takina and I can teach you the basics well enough as well as a few offensive and defensive spells. And by the time you need advanced lesson that we cannot give you, Rin and Sakura will surely be available by then."

"Thank you." nodded Alexia.

"Can you also teach me while you're at it?" asked Claire. "And maybe my little brother? He's too weak, and I worry about him a lot."

"I don't mind teaching you, but we'll see about your brother." nodded Chisato.

"Thank you very much." smiled Claire. "I…"

She suddenly stopped when she saw something behind Chisato, and Chisato turned, seeing a tall, handsome young man walking to them. He had short blonde hair and light blue eyes and was dressed as a member of the school's staff.

"Is there anything you need, Zenon-sensei?" asked Alexia with a voice that, while polite, made clear that she didn't like him.

"I would like to know your answer, Alexia." replied Zenon with a pleasant smile.

"Yes, I…" started Alexia before stopping and turning to Chisato and Takina. Chisato could see a mischievous gleam in her eyes as Alexia suddenly walked to Chisato and took her arm.

"I chose Chisato here as my girlfriend!"

"I accept!" grinned Chisato, taking it in stride.

"Oh please, you're acting like a child, Alexia." frowned Zenon. "You have a duty to produce an heir, and you won't be able to do it with another woman. You know you can't keep running away forever."

"I'm just a child, I don't understand those grownup problems." claimed Alexia, one eyebrow twitching in anger.

Zenon shook his head in exasperation and looked at Chisato.

"It hasn't been made public yet, but I am her betrothed."

"You're still only a candidate for my betrothal." corrected Alexia.

"When you give your consent, we can proceed with the arrangements."

"I won't give it. So, stop wasting your time."

Zenon sighed.

"I see that I won't convince you today. Have a good day, Alexia." said Zenon as he turned and left.

"Eh, so I am promoted to girlfriend status now. I feel gratified." grinned Chisato.

"Isn't that convenient, though? Now you have an excuse to hang out with me, and that guy will give up after a while."

"Yes. But won't your family disagree with it? That guy probably has a point about your family wanting you to have kids."

"Not after I explain the situation to them. I'll do it this week-end, when no one will wonder why I'm going to the palace. Want to come with me?"

"Why not? I think your sister and your father would like to ask a few questions. But I won't guarantee answers." grinned Chisato. "Also, won't that give you a reputation of being into girls?"

"So?" shrugged Alexia. "It may reduce the number of nobles wanting my hand, and I'm not interested in marrying anytime soon. It would only bring benefits for me. What about you, Chisato? I'll compensate you if you find it bothersome."

"I'm sure that Chisato won't find it too troublesome." chuckled Takina.

"That's not an issue, Alexia." grinned Chisato. "I'm bisexual, so I'll enjoy acting lovey-dovey with a cute girl. And for your information, Takina and I are lovers."

"Oh." blinked Alexia. "Did I just insert myself between you? I do not mean to cause issues between you."

"It is fine." smiled Takina. "As you said, it is convenient for the mission. Even if you were to develop feelings for Chisato, I won't mind sharing her as long as you understand that Chisato and I come as a single package."

"…I see." nodded Alexia.

"I don't think Alexia is actually into girls." shrugged Claire.

"I'm not." confirmed Alexia.

The school's bell rang, signaling the start of classes.

"We need to go. See you at lunch, Takina, Chisato." smiled Claire.

"Later." grinned Chisato.

Once they were out of earshot, Takina made a sly smile at Chisato.

"Teaching Magecraft to Cid Kagenou is a big no-no, unless… What if we first made him agree to a carefully worded contract with Akeno? We might have an easy way to deal with Shadow after all."

"…I don't know." frowned Chisato. "Yes, this could allow us to neutralize him without having to fight him. But aren't the gods anticipating a fight? And with an opponent like Shadow, they must really be looking forward to it. They may not like it much if we don't face him directly."

"You have a point. Let's think about it later, Chisato." frowned Takina. "For now, we need to introduce ourselves to our new classmates."

…

The rumor mill at the Midgar Dark Knight Academy was alive and well, and by noon, everyone apparently knew that Alexia had chosen as a girlfriend a girl of unknown background.

There were whispers all around, but Chisato ignored them as she, Takina, Claire and Alexia took a table in the cafeteria. While Chisato, Takina and Claire each carried a tray filled with various foods, Alexia had not bothered and sat empty-handed.

The reason for it appeared immediately, taking the form of four female members of the kitchen staff, They efficiently set on the table in front of Alexia eight different dishes, each looking more delicious than the other, then retreated.

"Wow, being a Princess sure is different." chuckled Chisato.

"I wouldn't mind having everyone else's food. I can never finish all this. Feel free to take some." replied Alexia, an amused smile on her face.

"Don't mind if I do, then." grinned Chisato. With her chopsticks, she took a thin slice of beef partially covered with a green sauce, ignoring the shocked gasps coming from the surrounding tables, and ate it.

"It's quite delicious! Say 'ahhh'." grinned Chisato as she took another slice and presented it to Alexia.

Alexia blinked for a second, then blushed slightly and opened her mouth.

"Is it good?" asked Chisato with an adorable smile as Alexia chewed.

"Don't push too far, Chisato." whispered Alexia.

"But look at the reactions. They're buying it." chuckled Chisato with a low voice.

The Princess quickly glanced around. All she could see from the other students was jealousy from the boys, and the girls seemed to approve and find the scene adorable.

"Alright." muttered Alexia, taking her own chopsticks at starting to eat.

"You didn't tell me. Why are you opposed to that engagement with Zenon-Sensei in the first place? Is it only because you don't want to marry soon? He's rather handsome, courteous, and skilled, I presume, since he's a teacher." asked Chisato.

She already knew the answer from watching the anime, but some things needed to be said, so that people wouldn't wonder later how Chisato and the others knew about this or that.

"That guy is flawless." muttered Alexia after making sure no one was close enough to hear. "But that's only if you look at the exterior. Flawless guys do not exist. So Zenon is either insane, or he's hiding his true nature."

"That's a good point." nodded Chisato. "What about you, Claire?"

"I barely exchanged a few words with him aside from sparring." shrugged Claire. "He's good with a sword and the students admire him. But I agree with Alexia, I sometimes feel like there's something off about him."

"Do you think this could be, what we discussed yesterday?" asked Alexia, and Claire shrugged.

"Probably not. There's plenty of different reasons that could explain him hiding things. Like keeping his position as a candidate for your engagement. We shouldn't start seeing enemies everywhere."

"Anyway, if he lies in our presence, we'll know, and we will tell you." muttered Takina, and Claire and Alexia nodded.

…

The fencing classes were separated not by seniority, but by combat skills, and after Chisato and Takina sparred against two teachers, they were assigned to Division 1, the one were the top talents like Rose, Alexia and Claire were. And so were Rin and Sakura. Their fencing teacher was Zenon.

"How surprising, that I would get four new students in a single day." smiled Zenon. "The kingdom is fortunate with this new generation's talents."

"Thank you, Zenon-sensei." smiled Sakura.

"Do you all come from the same place?"

"Rin is my sister, and we spared a lot with each other before." shrugged Sakura, using a cover they had defined the previous day with Rose, Alexia and Claire. "We come from a farm near the town of Alford, near the northern border. We placed well in a local competition, and an official recommenced for us to study here."

"Takina and I are childhood friends." said Chisato. "We lived in Lawless City, but we became tired of the constant violence, and we decided to establish ourselves somewhere more peaceful. Since we are good with a sword and we have some magic capacity, we heard about the Dark Knights Academy, and we passed the entrance exam."

"I see." nodded Zenon. "You should do your stretching exercises, then choose a free student to spar with. I will watch and give you advice when needed."

"Yes, thank you, Zenon-sensei." smiled Chisato.

…

Zenon watched the four newcomers spar against other students, but wasn't too impressed. They were good enough to be in Division 1, but they didn't seem to possess a lot of magic power, and their fencing was textbook correct, but uninspired. They were very similar to Alexia in that regard.

Still, four arrivals the very same day was very suspicious, and he didn't have the means to verify what they had told him about their origins immediately. Investigating would take at least a week, and in the case of Lawless City, it would prove futile. That place wasn't known for its precise record-keeping.

Their fencing was also suspicious, as he would have expected people with their alleged background to have a more chaotic and self-made style.

Zenon couldn't determine if his doubts were correct or not, but he was a cautious man.

Just in case, he decided to accelerate his plans.

…

"If I remember correctly, you said you need to engrave magic circuits in our bodies before we can start learning Magecraft, right?" asked Alexia.

She and Claire had invited Chisato and Takina inside Alexia's room. Rin and Sakura had gone back to the dorm they found outside of the campus to resume Kanna's and Emi's training.

"That's right." smiled Chisato.

"Will it be painful?" asked Claire.

"Yeah, it's really painful! The whole time I was gritting my teeth to not scream, and it lasted for hours!" complained Chisato, making a scared face as if she remembered something terrible.

"Chisato is messing with you." chuckled Takina as she saw the slight hesitation on Alexia's face. "The process is painful, that is true, but we'll use another magic to block the pain. You will only feel a moderate itch while we do it."

"Yes." grinned Chisato. "We didn't have that pain-blocking magic back then, when I got my own magic circuits. But now it's easy!"

"I am relieved to hear it." sighed Alexia.

"So, what do we need to do?" asked Claire.

"We need you two to lay down on your stomach, with your back laid bare. We will put our hands on your backs and circulate our magic inside you. Your bodies will react by gradually forming their own magic circuits."

"...We'll use my bed. It is large enough. Please wait outside until I call you in." said Alexia after a glance at Claire.

They both entered the bedroom and closed the door behind them, leaving Chisato and Takina alone.

"We're well on our way to fulfill the conditions for the first quest, right?" muttered Takina.

"Yes. We're more acquaintances than friends right now, I guess, but it's just a matter of time, and we now have plenty of justifications to hang around. And we're good at making friends." grinned Chisato.

They nodded to each other, convinced that they would need less than a week.

…

Claire, waiting in the dorm's inner hall, frowned as she watched the clock. If Alexia didn't show up soon, they would be late for class.

Could it be a side-effect of generating her Magic Circuits the previous evening? Claire didn't feel anything strange with her own.

Although she hadn't tried to use them yet.

Takina had told them that the first thing they would learn, circulating mana inside those circuits to reinforce their bodies, would be this evening's subject.

She tapped her foot on the wooden floor for a while, then lost patience and decided to climb the stairs to check herself.

As soon as she reached the third floor, her heart sank.

The guard she expected to be standing in front of the door of Alexia's room wasn't there.

She quickly walked to the door and knocked sharply.

"Alexia? Are you there?" called out Claire, and no response came.

And when she looked down, intending to try the door's handle, she saw it. A faint smear of blood. Someone had used a piece of cloth to wipe it, but hadn't done a clean job.

Claire drew her sword and opened the door.

She saw the body of a large man sprawled on the floor, blood pooling around him.

"Crap." cursed Claire as she entered the room and quickly checked the bedroom and bathroom.

There were no assailants, but Alexia also wasn't there.

She crouched beside the fallen guard, checking for a pulse. She knew him. Glen, a grizzled veteran who guarded Alexia's room during the night. She found a weak pulse, but Glen didn't react. The blood came from a nasty gash on his head.

From the traces on the ground, he had been injured outside, then dragged inside, and whoever had wiped the blood in the hallway hadn't bothered with the smear going from the door to Glen's current spot.

Claire couldn't give him first aid, but she remembered that Chisato had mentioned that one of her organization's exclusive skills was very effective at dealing with injuries, and she broke into a run, jumping down the stairs without caring about the few other students who were running late.

She ran to the academy's building where most of the classrooms were, and quickly located Chisato and Takina, chatting with some of their classmates.

Their expressions turned serious as they saw her coming, and they exchanged a few hurried words to the other students before coming to her.

"You told me you can heal injuries, right?" asked Claire with a low voice.

"Yes. Is Alexia injured?" asked Chisato.

"Alexia had disappeared, and her bodyguard is lying on a pool of his blood in her room. He's still alive, but he needs help."

"I'm coming with you." decided Takina. "Chisato, go warn Rin and Sakura, and we meet up in Alexia's room."

"Yeah. We'll leave Shuuko, Emi and Kanna out for this time, since they aren't ready yet. The four of us should be enough anyway."

"Let's go." said Takina, and Claire nodded before running again.

Thankfully, Glen was still alive when they reached Alexia's room, and Takina wasted no time before grabbing his hand.

Claire blinked in surprise as she saw the gash close in barely two seconds, and color slowly return to Glen's face.

"Well, that's certainly effective." muttered Claire.

"He will wake up in a moment. Do you know where Marco is?" asked Takina as she looked around.

"He generally comes mid-morning to replace Glen here, and Glen returns late evening for the night shift." frowned Claire. "From the wound's position, he was attacked from behind. He was also taken by surprise."

"Because there was only one wound?" asked Takina, and Claire nodded.

Glen opened his eyes at stared at Claire and Takina for an instant before sitting up.

"Miss Claire? What happened?" started Glen before noticing the blood around him, and his memories returned.

"Where is Ojou-sama? Is she safe?" hurriedly asked Glen as he felt around the base of his skull.

"She's missing." said Claire. "This is Takina Inoue, a friend. She just healed your wound. Can you tell us who attacked you?"

"…I think it was Sir Zenon." frowned Glen. "He came late at night to discuss the Princess's progress. I was suspicious since he has no reason to come at this hour, but I heard a noise behind me, and when I turned, there were two men wearing dark robes trying to sneak in. And before I could shout an alarm or look back at Sir Zenon, I was stuck, and I collapsed."

Chisato, Rin and Sakura appeared in the doorway, taking in the scene and the blood on the wooden floor.

"What happened exactly?" asked Sakura.

"Alexia has been kidnapped, and Zenon is the prime suspect. He has at least two accomplices."

"Please tell me you have a way to find her." said Claire.

"We do, as long as she isn't too far away." nodded Sakura. "I need something that belongs to her. Luckily, we aren't lacking those here."

She moved to the bathroom to take some hair from Alexia's brush.

"Sir Glen, are you stronger than Claire in a fight?" asked Takina, and Glen regretfully shook his head.

"Then, I suggest you spread the alarm." nodded Takina. "We are going to find and rescue the Princess."

"You are? But…"

"It's okay, Glen." sighed Claire. "All four of them are at least as strong as me. I do not doubt your resolve, but you are the weakest among us. It makes sense that you'd be the one going warn His Majesty and Princess Iris. Besides, they will trust you instantly. They might waste time doubting Takina or me if we go."

"…I understand." replied Glen with obvious regret in his voice.

Sakura wrapped a strand of platinum-white hair around the head of a pendulum, and focused. Seconds later, it pointed toward the North-East.

"About a kilometer in that direction, I'd say. Possibly underground. I'll get a more accurate reading as we get closer."

"Let's go." nodded Chisato. "We have a Princess to save and butts to kick!"

…

(Sometime earlier)

Alexia felt woozy as she opened her eyes, feeling uncomfortable. The first thing she saw was a dirty concrete ceiling, more brown than gray from decades of accumulated grime. And iron bars.

She sat up with a jolt, suddenly remembering. She woke up earlier in her bed with a heavy weight suddenly pressing on her, and seen dark shapes pressing a foul-smelling piece of fabric on her face. She struggled, but with her lungs screaming for air, she had been forced to breathe in some of the chemical, and she quickly lost consciousness.

And now, she was… wherever this was, in a cell, laying on a hospital bed, with thick steel shackles around her wrists and ankles chained to the sides of the bed.

Although, for some reason, her kidnappers had removed her pajamas and dressed her in her uniform's socks, skirt and shirt.

She hoped they hadn't done more to her than just kidnap her.

Furious, she immediately tried to reinforce her body with her magic, but it was unresponsive.

"Magic-sealing shackles" sighed Alexia.

She heard the sound of chains rattling on the ground and turned her head to the right.

In the cell next to hers, someone else was kept captive.

A young woman, or at least, Alexia supposed she was a woman, was crouching on the ground, a thick steel collar around her neck linked to the wall by a chain. She had reddish skin and long white hair, her left eye closed by a huge scar. Her right eye had a black sclera and a red pupil. Her right arm was longer than normal, her right hand easily twice as large as it should have been.

Her whole body was full of scars.

Worse still, her left arm was folded against her torso, her left hand disappearing inside, and her back was swollen by a huge mass of flesh that almost pulsed like a tumor.

Alexia must have let some of the horror she felt show on her face, as the woman suddenly turned her face away in shame.

"Sorry, I was just… surprised." sighed Alexia. "I'm Alexia. I'll try to help you if I can."

The woman turned her head back to Alexia and nodded with a soft grunt.

"I hope they didn't kill Glen." muttered Alexia as she pulled on her bonds and examined her cell. But the shackles held firm, and there was nothing she could exploit.

She heard noise coming from the dimly lit hallway. Someone was coming.

A single man appeared, holding a small metallic tray a she kept muttering to himself.

A man wearing a dirty lab coat, with gray hair in clear need of a bath or shower, and eyes that looked like he hadn't slept in a week. His mutters became understandable as he walked closer and opened her cell.

"Royal Blood… Royal Blood… At last, I have Royal Blood… Royal Blood… Royal Blood…"

Alexia leaned back against the angled back of the hospital bed, deciding that the best policy while she waited for rescue was to try to make him sympathize with her.

"Nice to meet you. Are you my kidnapper?"

The man kept blabbering about Royal Blood as he placed the tray on her tights, and Alexia gulped at the sight of three large, empty syringes with thick needles that looked like they were meant for horses.

The man rolled back the sleeve of Alexia's shirt, exposing her right arm, and grabbed the first syringe.

She wanted to ask if the needles had been properly sterilized before, but she somehow doubted that basic hygiene was high on that man's list of priorities.

"May I ask something?" asked Alexia instead. "Why do you want my blood?"

"Y-y-your blood is demon blood blood blood. I'm going to summon the D-Demon Lord in the mod-modern era."

"I see. Sounds lovely… Even if I don't know what that means."

He refused to elaborate, reverting to his demented mutterings about Royal Blood.

After filling his three syringes, the crazy man departed. Alexia felt a bit light-headed from the blood loss.

"If only this had come a few days later… Maybe I could have defeated them." sighed Alexia, lamenting the timing.

…

"Yes, definitely underground." nodded Sakura as she examined the pendulum. "About a hundred meters in this direction, and twenty meters down."

"This is part of Magecraft? Not your exclusive skills?" asked Claire.

"Yes. Why?" asked Rin.

"I definitely want to learn this trick." nodded Claire. "My little brother constantly disappears on me and gets lost whenever we go into a large city."

"We'll teach you." smiled Sakura before pointing with a finger. "There's an access over there. Let's go down."

They ignored the curious gazes from the citizens as they opened the access and jumped down, ready for a fight. And they almost immediately encountered their first difficulty.

The underground sewer forked left and right.

"Left, right? Or we dig through?" asked Sakura.

"No digging." frowned Rin. "There are people and houses above us. Let's not put them at risk. We divide into two teams."

…

Claire had to admit, as she followed Takina and Chisato, that they certainly knew their stuff. The two girls progressed efficiently through the sewer maze, covering each other's blind spot without a word as they checked passage after passage.

They had encountered a few enemies already, men wearing dark robes who drew their swords at the sight of them. Takina and Chisato killed them with their guns before they could shout an alarm.

Their guns were surprisingly quiet, too, and they didn't need to be reloaded after firing once.

And then, they found a wooden door down another passage. When they opened it, Claire blinked in surprise.

Beyond the door was a large room, likely used as some kind of reservoir to store excess water during heavy rainfalls, but it had been repurposed.

Zenon was there, accompanied by a gray-haired man in a lab coat and four more robed men. They were standing in front of a large red circle full of strange symbols on the ground, that shone with a vivid red light and emitted some small arcs of red lightning.

"Ah! I was right to suspect you!" shouted Zenon, ecstatic as he lifted his arms in a grand gesture. "But you're too late! The invocation ritual is complete! The Demon Lord is about to return! With this achievement, I will become the next Knight of Rounds!"

"A summoning?" frowned Chisato.

"That sounds pretty bad." said Claire. "How do we stop it?"

Before Chisato or Takina could answer, the red circle made a sound like a great crack, and red smoke burst from it, obscuring its surroundings for a few seconds. The smoke dissipated, and…

Claire blinked twice. This was the demon lord?"

Zenon and his men were facing Claire and Chisato, theirs back turned to the array. When they turned back to bask in the terrible and majestic appearance of Demon Lord Diablos, their expressions froze.

"This, is your demon lord?" asked Chisato, a grin growing on her face.

In the center of the now inert red circle stood a young woman with black hair and eyes, dressed in what seemed to be a school uniform made of a white vest, black thighs, and dark blue skirt. She was staring at her surroundings in utter confusion.

The girl said a few words in a language that Claire didn't understand, and surprisingly, Chisato replied in what sounded like the same language as she pointed to the room's most distant corner. From her tone, Claire suspected that Chisato was asking her to get away from the men.

The black-haired girl nodded once and backed to the corner, watching everyone warily.

Zenon grabbed the man in a lab coat by the lapel and started shaking him.

"What did you do! " shouted Zenon, furiously pointing at the girl. "You were supposed to bring the Demon Lord back! Does she look like Diablos to you?"

"I-I don't know!" babbled the man. "I-I'll take more Royal Blood and start again!"

"I think you have a more urgent problem. Us." smiled Takina.

"Kill them." ordered Zenon as he turned to the men in dark robes.

The four robed men surged forward, then Zenon himself joined the fray.

Claire engaged the leftmost one. He was decent, but not to her level, and he failed to parry her fourth strike. Her blade dug into his torso, and his scream of pain turned into a gurgle as she cut through his trachea. He collapsed, and Claire searched for the next opponent.

The robed men were already down, and Chisato, while parrying Zenon's attack with her sword, shot both of his thighs with her magic gun, carving bloody holes in his flesh.

"Argh!" shouted Zenon as he fell.

He reached into his jacket to take from it a bottle of pills, but Chisato kicked the bottle away before he could use them.

"Chisato, let's break his limbs and deliver him to the guards for interrogation." suggested Takina.

"Alright." nodded Chisato. Rods of hardened light appeared around Zenon and struck his limbs with force. He screamed again, and Chisato kicked his sword away before healing only his bullet wounds.

Claire pressed her sword against the throat of the lab coat.

"You will bring me to Princess Alexia. Now."

"Hiiiii!" exclaimed the man, terrified, but he nodded with a jerk.

"Go with them, Chisato. I'll keep an eye on him." said Takina.

"Okay!" replied Chisato.

The man led them to another part of their lair, where they found Rin and Sakura busy freeing Alexia from a cell. They saw Claire, Chisato and the man coming and nodded to them. And in the next cell was…

Claire stared for a few seconds, fear and horror surging in her heart. In the grotesque form that was once a normal woman, she saw… what could be her own future.

She had once suffered from an onset of Corruption on the small of her back, that incurable curse causing some people to slowly turn into a mass of swollen flesh.

Somehow, the Corruption had stopped one day, and her body had returned to normal. But since then, Claire feared that the Corruption could one day return.

"Alexia, do you really need this man alive?" asked Sakura, her eyes cold.

"…Not really." shrugged Alexia.

"We already took Zenon alive." shrugged Chisato, giving implicit permission, and Sakura nodded.

Claire didn't have time to see clearly. Something dark burst from Sakura's shadow and decapitated the lab coat. It formed some kind of shield for an instant as the corpse fell, then retracted itself back at Sakura's feet. It took her a second to understand that Sakura had used whatever this was to shield her from blood splatters.

She nodded in thanks.

"I really hate those who treat others as subjects for experiments." explained Sakura.

"Zenon, huh? I am not really surprised." sighed Alexia.

Meanwhile, Rin was crouching beside the Corrupted girl.

"It will be okay, we're going to help you." said Rin with a soft voice as she slowly took the girl's only hand. After a few seconds, her flesh started undulating, rearranging itself as if made of clay. In less than a minute, it stopped. Where a badly deformed, scared woman once knelt, now sat a delicate, naked young woman with silver eyes and gray hair. She looked at her body, and when the disbelief disappeared from her face, she started sobbing.

Rin hugged her.

"It's okay. I'm glad that it worked."

"Yes, that's great. And there's something else." grinned Chisato. "Those guys apparently used Alexia's blood to try to summon the Demon Lord Diablos. But they failed. Instead, they somehow managed to summon a Japanese girl! If you could have seen Zenon's face!"

"Seriously?" exclaimed Rin. "A girl from Japan got isekai-ed?"

"Yep." nodded Chisato.

"A what? Japanese?" asked Claire.

"Someone born in a country named Japan." explained Chisato. "There's many Japanese people in Valhalla. In fact, that is the case for all seven of us who joined the Dark Knights Academy."

"Ah, that explains why you could speak the same language." understood Claire.

"My name is Rin. What's yours?"

"Mi-Millia." replied the girl as she tried to control herself. "T-Thank you. Thank you so much."

Claire heard footsteps and the sounds of something being dragged and turned to see Takina and the Japanese girl. Now that she paid more attention, she could see some similarities between her and the others, like the skin tone and the general shape of the eyes.

Takina was dragging Zenon's body behind her using golden chains.

"I was tired of hearing him scream, so I knocked him unconscious. Everyone, this is Akane. Akane Nishino."

…

It took a while for them to get out of the sewers (after providing Millia with proper clothes) and get a guard escort to the Palace.

They objected at first, stating that they at least needed a shower before being introduced to royalty, but Iris, the first Princess, didn't want to hear about any delay.

Iris was a tall young woman with fair skin, red eyes, and a mane of crimson red reaching down her butt. She obviously liked her little sister very much, and as soon as their eyes met, she basically turned into a missile with only a single purpose in life: to hug Alexia and insure she was unharmed.

Alexia had a complicated relationship with her sister due to nurturing an inferiority complex and being constantly compared to the talented Iris, the Midgar Kingdom's strongest Dark Knight. But she still smiled helplessly as Iris fussed over her.

"So, you too aren't originally from this world, and my best chance to return to my family is to stick with your group?" asked Akane, standing close to Chisato.

"I do think we offer you the best odds, Nishino-san." nodded Chisato, talking in a low voice while they fondly watched the show. "I'm not sure we can reach your specific world since there's a lot of different, parallel Earths with a modern-day Japan, and we don't know which one you came from."

"This might require some actual divine intervention, and while we are in a privileged position and can actually speak to a few Deities, we can't demand anything from them. But at the very least, we can help with teaching you the local language and giving you a safe home and material support. We can also help you relocate later to other worlds where the standard of living would be closer to what you're used to, Nishino-san."

"And in return?"

"In return, you help us for a few months, maybe a little more. We want to make this world a better place. We will train you and teach you the language, magic and swordsmanship among other useful things."

"And you agree to follow the commands of our organization's leader. His name is Noah, and he's an immortal demi-god. Here is his photo." smiled Chisato as she turned on her smartphone and showed Akane one of Noah's pictures.

"He's… quite something." admitted Akane, feeling a bit defensive. She, the daughter of a powerful CEO, was used to being the one everyone admired at school, the one everyone wanted to speak to. But she felt that if Noah attended the same school, he would get most of the attention.

And come to think of it, each and every girl she had met so far in this world was very beautiful. Was there some special nutrient over there that improved people's looks?

"Right?" smiled Chisato. "He's also kind and hard-working. But still, I strongly encourage you to stick with us. Even if you don't agree to join our organization, we can at least help you get your feet under you and be friends."

"Yes, I'd be grateful for this." nodded Akane. "You said you're making this world a better place. Can you specify? What do you do exactly? Maybe advance its technological development?"

"We've been given several missions by the gods. The demonic cult that summoned you by mistake is our first target. For our other objectives, sorry, but some of them are… sensitive. I won't speak about those unless you agree to join Valhalla. As for technology, it's fine if we give tips about civilian stuff, but we need to act responsibly about weapon technologies, and I don't see us giving any of those away here. We don't want to disrupt the balance between nations and trigger a series of wars."

"I see." sighed Akane. "I'd like to sleep on it for a while before I make a decision."

"Sure." nodded Chisato. "You’ve received a lot of shocks in the last hour, and you should think about it properly. Just watch how we operate for now."

"Yes. Just learning the language is likely going to take me months anyway, and I can't do anything without at least learning enough for everyday life."

"About that, we have a shortcut." smiled Chisato. "We could have you speak it fluently within two weeks. But that's something exclusive to Valhalla, so…"

"I'll think about it." sighed Akane, feeling like she was being pushed and not liking it.

"Ahem." fake-coughed Alexia when she saw Chisato's conversation with Akane reach a lull.

"Everyone, this is my elder sister, Iris Midgar."

"I am very grateful for the help you provided Alexia. I don't know what I would have done if…" her words trailed off, as if she couldn't even contemplate finish her sentence.

"Alexia is our friend." smiled Rin. "We are glad we've been able to help her before it was too late."

Iris nodded and took a deep breath.

"I would like you all to follow me to the Palace. If even half of what Glen and Marco told me earlier are true, we need to have a conversation, but the street isn't a good place for it."

…

King Klaus Midgar was… a forgettable man.

That was Chisato's first impression of the man ruling Midgar, a middle-aged, thin man with red eyes, short crimson hair and a crimson mustache.

He welcomed them with perfect politeness, thanking them profusely for their role in saving Alexia. It was clear that he cared a lot for both of his daughters.

The king was also tactful enough not to comment on the smell they'd gotten after their trip in the sewers.

But the biggest reason he seemed forgettable was Iris. Her sheer presence overshadowed him, and from what Alexia told her, she spent most of her time acting as the Kingdom's de facto prime minister.

Overall, Chisato thought that the King was a good person. He had to be, for having raised two daughters who turned out well, and he was ruling the Midgar Kingdom with a competent hand as far as she could tell.

He also hadn't demanded they kneel or bow in front of him, and Chisato appreciated that.

"I see." nodded Claus. "If I understand correctly, you people come from Japan, a nation far away, to hunt down the Cult of Diablos. You are able to use magic power in ways we know nothing about and can even cure the Afflicted. And miss Nishino here was accidentally summoned by the Cultists when they attempted to summon the Demon Lord Diablos."

"That is mostly correct, your Majesty." nodded Sakura, taking the lead while Chisato translated to Akane with a low voice. "While many members of Valhalla originate from Japan, we have recruited talented members from almost every nation we visited. Our leader, who is not Japanese, doesn't prioritize the interests of one nation over another."

"What are Valhalla's intentions regarding the Midgar Kingdom?" asked Klaus.

"The seven of us want to keep attending the Dark Knights Academy for a while, while keeping our ears and eyes open for any signs of Cultist activity. And we will take care of Millia and Akane, since Millia's doesn't seem to have any living relatives."

"Yes, I will certainly allow that." nodded Klaus. "And I would like for you and Iris to meet regularly to exchange information. I have been aware of the Cult of Diablos's existence for a while now, but identifying their members had proven all but impossible."

"We don't mind." smiled Sakura. "However, your Majesty, we would prefer for the existence of Valhalla to remain as secret as possible. If the citizen knew about us, it would make our task more complicated."

"Of course. And, about your abilities, you started teaching some of those to Alexia and miss Claire…"

"I'll join Valhalla." cut in Alexia.

"…Ah?" exclaimed Klaus and Iris in sync.

"It's fine, isn't it?" shrugged Alexia. "I'm not the one who's going to inherit the throne, Iris-nee-sama is. Valhalla doesn't seem to have any ill intent towards the Kingdom, and if they do, I'll leave them immediately. And after what happened today, I want to become as strong as possible."

"We do not have any intent at all towards the Midgar Kingdom." confirmed Sakura. "From what we have seen so far, the citizens are happy overall, their needs are met, public security is adequate, and you are not waging war with your neighbors. There is no reason for us to want to interfere."

"Right." nodded Iris, satisfied by Sakura's evaluation. "But still, joining a secret organization we know little about… I can't agree with that, Alexia."

"Iris-nee-sama, I am old enough to make my own decisions." bristled Alexia, and Iris winced.

"How about you join our Magecraft lessons, Princess Iris?" shrugged Rin. "That will give you opportunities to know more about us, and you will gain significant benefits from it even if you do not wish to join us."

Iris frowned as she considered for a few seconds, then slowly nodded before asking. "Could you teach Magecraft to Marco and Glen as well?"

Sakura looked at Rin, Chisato and Takina, who simply shrugged.

"Alright, but no more." said Sakura. "While we can make some allowance to have the cooperation of the Royal Family, we do not stand to gain anything in spreading the use of Magecraft far and wide, and we take a risk of it falling one day into the hands of the Cult of Diablos. And I will inform you in advance, they won't be able to join Valhalla later even if they wish to. There is a matter of compatibility with the way we transmit the powers exclusive to our group, so we can only recruit women."

"Wait." whispered Akane to Chisato after she translated. "Sakura just said that, but isn't Valhalla's leader a man?"

"Sorry, but I can't answer your question unless you agree to join us. This relates to some of our secrets."

"I won't ask about this anymore. But you said before that you could help me learn the language in mere days instead of the months it would normally take if I agreed to join."

"That's right."

"Then's it's not really a choice." sighed Akane. "I'll join you guys for a few months, and once I consider my debt to you guys repaid, I'll reconsider whether staying or leaving."

"That's great. You won't regret it, Nishino-san." grinned Chisato. "I guarantee, once you get a taste of all the benefits being a member of Valhalla gives you access to, you won't leave."

"I hope so. You guys are my best hope to find my way back home anyway."

Chisato nodded, patting Akane's shoulder in sympathy.

She would wait until Akane became a member of Noah's harem, and then she would pray to Athena, asking her if there was any way to…

[You do not need to ask, Chisato. We already thought about this.] chuckled the Goddess's voice in her head. [Once you are done with this world's Demonic Pillar, both of Akane's parents will be presented with the possibility of being sent to Chaldea. I think they will accept. And even if they don't, their world is the one where Asuka, Medusa and Sakura experienced that VR game, Ecstas Online. Akane was in another part of this Japan.]

[Ah, I see! I really work for a great goddess. Many thanks, Athena.] grinned Chisato.

[You're welcome. And do try to defeat Shadow in a fight rather than negotiate or trick him, please. While none of us doubt that you will win in the end, many bets depend on who will fight him, where, and so on.]

[Yes, I'll inform the others.]

…

When the discussion finally ended, Alexia, Chisato, Takina, Rin, Sakura, Claire, Millia and Akane returned to the Academy. They would get five rooms in the dorm on Alexia's floor and follow the normal Dark Knight curriculum during school hours. After those ended, however, they would go to one of the smaller dojos and give Magecraft lessons to Alexia, Millia, Akane, Marco, Claire, Glen and Iris. Rin and even made a wig for Iris to be more easily able to join them without attracting attention.

…

In another part of the city, in the commercial district, was a huge white building, occupying a whole city block and standing five stories tall.

This was the Mitsugoshi company, a new commercial conglomerate taking the market of luxury goods by storm. They were selling many new products like lipsticks, coffee or chocolate that were wildly popular.

On the rooftop of the huge building stood another large building with large windows of colored glass, surrounded by a small garden. Most of it was arranged as a throne room, twenty meters in width and fifty meters in length.

But that throne room was currently empty, as some of the core members of the Mitsugoshi company gathered in one of the adjacent smaller rooms. They sat around a long table with polished dark wood.

"…And thanks to our employees diligent work, we have amassed one billion Zeni as immediately usable capital. I hope our Lord will be satisfied with this." finished Gamma.

"I hope so as well." nodded Alpha, sitting at the head of the table. She glanced at the setting sun for a second before facing the others.

Beta was sitting on her left, scribbling in her notebook as usual. She always noted everything. It helped her process new information. Gamma was on her right, having just finished her report, carefully took from her left nostril the bit of tissue she had plugged in to stop the bleeding after her latest fall.

Delta was half-sprawled on the table, clearly bored out of her skull. The therianthrope girl likely had only started listening to Gamma's report when she mentioned their Lord.

Epsilon, facing Delta, leaned back on her chair. She had spoked before Gamma and had nothing to add.

"Very well." nodded Alpha, smiling slightly. "I think this concludes this meeting. Tomorrow, we'll…"

She stopped speaking when someone knocked on the door twice, then entered. It was Nu, one of the newly appointed Numbers.

"Please excuse-me, Alpha-sama, Gamma-sama." said Nu, saluting both her direct superior and her superior. "We just received news related to Lord Shadow's sister."

"Is she safe?" asked Alpha with a frown.

"Yes, Alpha-sama." nodded Nu. "We are still piecing things together, but it seems that she left the Dark Knight Academy this morning with a small group of other students to lead a rescue operation in the sewers. It appears that Princess Alexia had been abducted by the Cult of Diablos. Princess Alexia was successfully rescued, and they took one prisoner, who should currently be in the guards' custody and undergoing interrogation. Claire Kagenou didn't sustain any injury."

Alpha nodded, thinking. She was relieved that Claire Kagenou was fine and that whatever the Cult of Diablos was attempting had failed. But she wanted to get her hands on that prisoner to learn more about the Cult's schemes.

"Epsilon, I want you to extract that captive and interrogate him as well. Try not to kill any guards if possible, but do not leave anyone behind who might identify you."

"Of course. I'll gather a few members." nodded Epsilon.

"I also wish to learn more about this incident from the other side's point of view. Nu, can you infiltrate the academy and approach the students who participated? They will likely boast about it to anyone who would listen. If the Cult is active near the Academy, we may need to consider reinforcing the protection around Shadow's sister."

"Understood, Alpha-sama. I will investigate." nodded Nu. She made a respectful nod, then left the room.

"Shadow will join the Academy next week." said Alpha to the others as a useless reminder. "We need to make sure his life will not be inconvenienced by anything, no matter how trivial. His sister's safety is not trivial."

They all nodded to each other, determined not to let any more schemes from the Cult of Diablos blindside them.