"So this is the school you will be attending?" Magdaran said as he stood beside Rias, his gaze moving across the tall iron gates and the clean, orderly campus beyond them. "It is nice."
He paused for a moment, then added with a faint smile, "Especially the uniform. You look beautiful, the scene is actually more tempting to make me join you here rather than the prospect of attending normal school."
Rias turned her head slightly, crimson hair catching the morning light, and for a brief moment she forgot the presence of everyone else around them. A small smile formed on her lips, warmer and more natural than the noble composure she usually wore in public.
"You say things like that so casually lately," she replied, though there was no real complaint in her tone. "But… thank you."
They were standing in front of Kuoh Academy, located in Kuoh Town, Tokyo.
(Yes, I made some changes again, my dear readers. Kuoh is now in Tokyo, kind of like Masutafu or Shinjuku, but on the outskirts of Tokyo, this was done for plot reasons)
To human eyes, it was nothing more than a well-maintained private school with a respectable reputation, it was an all girls school up until now, but now it had become an co-ed school.
To those who could see beyond the surface, this school would soon become an extraordinary one, for devils will be studying here.
Magdaran had accompanied Rias to the human world alongside her peerage and Sona Sitri's group, helping them settle in before the academic term began.
It was not an obligation, nor a political necessity or anything of the sort. It was something he chose to do, because Rias was his fiancee, and he was a gentleman.
And Rias knew it too, the reason for her frequent blushes.
Since the incident with Kuroka, something inside Magdaran had shifted. It was as if something inside of him had awakened, his EQ started climbing upwards, for now that he had tasted the fruits of lust, he had a goal when he spoke with Rias and the others, the goal drove him to develop faster.
He was still composed, still analytical, still frighteningly rational when it came to combat or strategy. But emotionally, he had… loosened. Not recklessly, but genuinely. He had become softer, more considerate, caring. Someone who would do casual conversations, and ask if they are well or have they eaten.
He no longer stiffened when Rias leaned closer.
Kisses were no longer rare, hesitant moments filled with unspoken tension. They were natural now. Comfortable. Sometimes brief, sometimes lingering. He would be the one initiating it often now, relishing in the feeling of soothing escstacy it brought.
Cuddling had followed just as naturally, quiet moments where neither of them spoke, yet neither felt the need to, another thing he quietly filed inside his list of favorite stuff to do. And it was efficient too, sleep was much better when you had someone to cuddle.
Rias had noticed the change immediately.
So had everyone else.
Sona glanced over from where she stood a short distance away, her expression neutral as always, though her eyes briefly lingered on the way Magdaran's hand rested lightly at the edge of Rias's waist. It was a subtle gesture, instinctive rather than possessive.
Rias's peerage gathered nearby.
Diana, her Queen, stood with her arms folded, observing Magdaran with an amused glint in her eyes.
Yuuto Kiba, Rias's knight maintained his polite composure, though he was clearly trying to acclimate to the unfamiliar environment.
Gasper Vladi, her bishop, hovered closer to the shade cast by the school wall, already uncomfortable in the open.
Magdaran's own peerage was present as well, though he already knew this arrangement would not last. His group was far more mobile, for his plans required moving from place to place without settling down for long.
As they began walking away from the school grounds, Rias spoke again.
"Once classes start, Sona and I will be busy most days," she said. "We will still handle devil business when necessary, but this… this is something I want to experience too, the reason why I wanted you here was..."
Magdaran cut her off, "Was because you are a complete weeb who wanted to experience an anime style high school relationship, and since they are always in Japan, you needed to come here too."
Diana snorted softly. "Heh, gonna need a senzu bean for that one."
Rias glared at her Queen, then back at Magdaran. "Do you regret coming with us?"
"No," he answered without hesitation.
"And don't worry, even if I am not going to be in that in-school boyfriend, I would still be the mysterious boyfriend who waits for you at the gate of the school, dressed in a fancy suit leaning on his limousine, leaving the whole school to wonder what our relationship is.
I suppose that would suffice, right?" I asked as I played with her cheeks squeezing them gently to tease her.
And that, (not the teasing, the words) more than anything else, made her smile, after all, she was just an otaku weeb.
Then the question of housing had to be settled.
Initially, there had been discussion about separate residences. Something modest for Rias and her peerage, something temporary for Magdaran's group. Magdaran dismissed the idea almost immediately.
"It is inefficient," he said simply. "I will not always be present. But my peerage will be. Keeping everyone split increases risk and response time."
"So you are suggesting what, exactly?" Diana asked, arching an eyebrow.
"A single large mansion," Magdaran replied. "Lavish enough to accommodate everyone comfortably. Secure. Hidden. Reinforced. One single mansion for both Rias and me, along with our peerages."
Diana turned toward Rias almost instantly. "We can't trust him," she said flatly. "He is probably a bad guy. His intentions are clearly impure."
There was a brief pause.
Rias blinked once. Then sighed. "You are never letting that go, are you?"
Magdaran, for his part, looked faintly amused. "I did say 'probably' back then, and I said that after I saved your life."
Shirone tilted her head slightly. "He does not act like a bad person."
Kuroka nodded. "And even if he did act like one, he would be our bad person."
That seemed to end the discussion.
They purchased a large piece of land and had a mansion built on it in the same day.
Located on the outskirts of Kuoh Town, it was secluded without being isolated, large without being ostentatious. The structure itself blended modern architecture with subtle enchantments layered so deeply into its foundation that even trained exorcists would overlook them.
Magdaran personally designed the enchantments, and he did go a bit overboard, considering that now, there were over tens of thousands of enchantments in the estate.
After that living arrangements were decided pragmatically.
Yuuto would have his own space, preferring solitude and training.
Gasper would be given a secure, reinforced room with controlled lighting, away from everyone else, allowing him to adjust at his own pace.
Rias and Diana would be accompanied most often by Kuisha and Shirone, both for security and familiarity.
Magdaran's peerage would rotate presence depending on his movements.
Once everything was settled, Magdaran gathered his group.
"I will be leaving for a while," he said calmly. "There is work I must do alone."
Kuroka raised an eyebrow. "Covert work?"
"Yes."
Akeno smiled faintly. "Then we will stay here and protect Rias."
"That is my request," Magdaran replied.
No one argued.
That night, standing alone beneath the human sky, Magdaran prepared for his first true solo journey since arriving in this world.
There were three objectives.
First, he needed to create temporary hideouts. His mastery over space magic was not yet refined enough for permanent constructs, but temporary dimensional pockets were well within his capability.
Second, reconnaissance, for a certain individual whom he felt would be useful in his peerage.
Third, rescue her.
Valerie Tepes.
A Dhampir imprisoned by the Tepes faction of vampires. A bearer of one of the thirteen longinus, the Sephiroth Graal. And Gasper Vladi's sister.
The moment Magdaran stepped away from Kuoh Town, the world seemed to fold inward around him.
Space bent, with the quiet obedience of something that recognized authority. The air rippled once, like a stone dropped into still water, and then he was gone.
His work on space magic had yielded enough results that he didn't need complicated teleportation circles to teleport.
Romania welcomed him with cold night air and the faint, metallic scent of blood lingering beneath the surface of the land.
Magdaran stood atop a forested hill, overlooking miles of darkened terrain. His presence was perfectly concealed.
Aura suppression, active concealing spells, and demonic control layered together into something so complete that even a Satan class being standing a few meters away would struggle to notice him.
He closed his eyes and let his senses expand.
Senjutsu flowed outward, not as raw power, but as perception. Nature energy did not discriminate between races. It revealed life, motion, imbalance.
And Romania was filled with imbalance.
Vampires.
They were everywhere.
Not in overwhelming numbers, but scattered, clustered in patterns that made their territorial boundaries obvious once one knew what to look for. Unlike devils, vampires did not dominate wide regions.
They were mixed in with the humans, living amongst them, hunting them.
Cities at night. Forest edges. Old castles layered with concealment magic, vampires were hidden here almost every shady place.
Magdaran observed silently.
'So this is their territory.'
Vampires, despite their reputation in human folklore, were not a major power in the supernatural world. Immortality did not equate to strength. Longevity did not guarantee might.
Their race stagnated.
Most vampires capped at High class. Their elites occasionally brushed the lower edge of Ultimate class. The strongest among them, those who ruled factions and carried ancient bloodlines, rarely reached true Ultimate class.
And even those were exceptions.
Their weaknesses were crippling.
Sunlight.
Holy energy.
Silver.
Conceptual purity.
Devils suffered from sunlight as well, but it was a matter of resistance and adaptation. A devil exposed long enough would acclimate, and adapt. Vampires never did.
They burned when exposed to sunlight.
Dhampirs, however, were different.
Born of vampire and human blood, they inherited diluted strength but lost the most severe weaknesses. Sunlight irritated them but did not cripple them. Holy power harmed them but did not annihilate them.
They were inferior to vampires in raw potential.
But superior in survivability.
Which made them valuable.
Which made them victims, perfect for becoming experimental subjects.
Magdaran opened his eyes.
'Valerie Tepes.'
The Tepes faction was not what humans imagined when they thought of Dracula.
They were not rulers anymore.
They were relics.
Once legendary, once feared, the line of Dracula had fallen into obscurity and internal decay. Politically important, historically revered, but militarily irrelevant.
Much like the old Satan faction once had been.
'Interesting parallel.'
Even the legendary Dracula, despite all his fame, was just a peak Ultimate class being, that is the weakness of the vampires.
And the Tepes faction of now, lacked even that strength, just had the wealth and political pull to back them.
'Wait... they are actually more similar to my own Great king faction... after all, we also do bad stuff all the time, like when a few years ago, Zekram had disposed of Cleria Belial, and Naberius clan's experiments to create super devils...'
Anyways, The Carmilla faction ruled now. They were efficient, ruthless and pragmatic.
But most importantly, they were feminists, the entire government was now run by women, and men were operressed, that was part of the reason the Tepes faction hadn't completely fallen, the male vampires still supported them.
The Tepes faction existed only because erasing them would invite unnecessary attention and, it would severely weaken vampires as a whole.
Magdaran shifted space beneath his feet and vanished once more.
The castle appeared like a scar on the land.
Hidden from human eyes by layered illusion magic, it rose from the forest like a gothic monument to decay. Towers clawed at the night sky. Walls were etched with runes old enough to predate modern spellcraft, they were, at the very least centuries old.
Vampires moved in and out freely, their auras faint, undisciplined, careless.
Magdaran did not approach openly, it would be better if no one found out he was the one who infiltrated them for now.
Although, with his current strength, even if the entire race of Vampires were to join and attack him, he could still wipe them all out, and he would not even need to be serious to do that.
He stepped sideways, and space folded, carrying him over gently through the warp.
And suddenly he was inside the castle grounds, standing atop a high stone balcony that overlooked the inner complex.
Senjutsu expanded again.
'There.'
Deep underground.
A concentration of suffering.
Pain left residue, Fear echoed. Despair saturated the air like a toxin. This was without a doubt, a experiment lab, where the Dhampirs were being experimented on.
Magdaran descended without sound.
Walls meant nothing to him. Doors were merely suggestions, and the guards guarding them? Irrelevant.
He passed through corridors unseen, his presence hidden deeply.
The laboratory was hidden behind reinforced barriers, alchemical wards, and blood seals keyed exclusively to vampire signatures.
They parted like mist once the power of destruction grazed on them.
Inside, the smell hit him first.
Blood.
Stale.
Recycled.
Abused.
Five vampire researchers occupied the room, their focus entirely on the figure restrained at the center.
Valerie Tepes.
She was bound to a reinforced chair, silver chains biting into her skin. Her frame was thin. Too thin. Malnourished. Pale even by Dhampir standards.
Scars crisscrossed her body.
Some old.
Some new.
Fresh incision lines marked where blood had been extracted again and again. Tubes led from her arm into storage containers filled with crimson liquid.
Her eyes were dull...
Not dead.
But empty.
She did not struggle, She did not speak.
Hope had been rationed out of her long ago.
One of the researchers spoke casually. "Her resistance is improving. If we continue, we might finally isolate the mechanism that suppresses sunlight sensitivity. And with that disgusting tool of god attached within her, she might develop even resistance to holy powers, which we can extract."
Another scoffed. "She is even worse than cattle. Better she does something beneficial to us before dying."
Magdaran watched.
And decided, the researchers in the room had lived long enough.
He did not move, there was no need to.
He did not raise his hand, for they were too weak.
He simply thought.
And the five vampires disintegrated simultaneously.
There were no screams, no struggle.
Their bodies unraveled into nothingness, erased so completely that even ash failed to remain.
Silence followed.
Valerie's head lifted.
Her eyes widened, pupils dilating in shock as the room emptied itself of life in the span of a heartbeat.
Fear flickered.
Then confusion.
Then something fragile. Hope.
Barriers fell away as Magdaran stepped forward, his presence no longer concealed.
He looked somewhat different from the knight in shining armor she had hoped would come save her.
He was young.
But oddly composed.
Dressed in a long, formal coat that was completely midnight black.
His aura was controlled.
But vast.
It pressed against her senses, her instincts screaming at her that this was a being beyond what she could ever hope to face.
He stopped a few steps away, ensuring he did not startle her further.
"Valerie Tepes," he said calmly. "Would you be interested in leaving behind this place and joining my family?"
Her breath hitched.
For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating.
Her voice, when it came, was barely more than a whisper. "You are… not one of them."
"No," Magdaran replied. "I am not."
Tears welled in her eyes, unbidden, uncontrollable.
"Then… please," she said. "Take me away."
Magdaran extended his hand, the constraints which were binding Valerie suddenly disintegrated.
She was surprised at the sudden lack of bounds, but hesitated only a second before taking his hand.
Space folded.
And the vampires of Romania lost one of their secrets.