After sealing Nyx and cleaning up the beach, Alex and the others returned to the dorms to give Ingvild the good news. Also joining them in the conversation was Ajuka and Apollon, as they were both related to the incident."I apologize for our pantheon"s involvement in this matter, I hope it wasn"t too much trouble." Apollon"s holographic image said. Alex shook his head and replied,
"Of course not, if taking care of a single G.o.d troubled me then what have I been doing all this time?" Apollon nodded, relief obvious in his face, he then continued,
"That being said, I would like the item Nyx is sealed in to be returned to us for safeguarding." Alex however shook his head and replied,
"I already stored her in a safe place, and the only one who knows where she is is me. By turning her over it increases the chance of someone finding her and unsealing her, I hope you"ll understand me not doing so." Alex"s thought was that since he was leaving the world soon anyways, the chances of someone sympathizing with and freeing her were about zero. Though it was obvious that Apollon didn"t agree with him, he didn"t say anything since the current situation was technically their fault. Seeing the conversation was about over, Ajuka then said,
"Then about Ingvild, though we still need her to come in occasionally for some tests, the idea was mentioned of having her stay with the Gremory group for safety. It"ll allow her to adjust to modern life, and it might be more enjoyable than being stuck in a hospital everyday. The choice is your guys however." At his words Ingvild made a face of relief and turned towards Alex and Rias with some hesitation,
"I would like to stay here if you don"t mind." At her words both Alex and Rias nodded and she replied,
"We don"t mind, I"m sure everyone would like that as well." Alex then smiled and said,
"I do have one condition, I would like you to sing for us occasionally." Ingvild looked surprised at Alex"s words, but smiled as well a moment later and said,
"If you"re ok with me, then I"ll gladly sing for you guys." And with that another person moved into the dorms. After that was decided, both Ajuka and Apollon took their leave, and Kiba and Gasper left with Tosca and Valerie. As those left started calming down from the day"s events, Grayfia turned to Kuroka.
"Oh yeah Kuroka, I still need to "punish" you for that comment earlier." At her words everyone quieted down, and Kuroka had a look of panic as she said,
"Wait! We don"t know who won the earlier compet.i.tion, so since we don"t know who won you can"t "punish" me Nya!" Suddenly someone said,
"Grayfia won, I made sure to keep a close count. But who knows, us elderly people do get forgetful sometimes." Everyone turned to Roygun, who had a look similar to an oni, the horns only added to the look. It was obvious both girls wanted revenge on Kuroka for mentioning their ages in the earlier fight, even if Grayfia was the only one she went after. Kuroka immediately tried to hide behind Alex, and said,
"You won"t let the mean maid get me, right Nya?" Alex started patting her on the head, to which Kuroka narrowed her eyes pleasantly, before he grabbed her by one of her ears.
"Sorry, but you made your bed so you need to lie in it, plus it"s free entertainment for the rest of us." Kuroka tried to pull away from his grip, but was unable to as the two women bore down on her. With Roygun"s help, Grayfia bent Kuroka over her knee and swiftly removed the bottom half of the bikini she was still wearing, meaning that with the exception of her bikini top Kuroka was now naked. A magic circle appeared in Grayfia"s hand, as she swung and smacked Kuroka"s bare a.s.s.
SMACK
"NYAN!"
Kuroka cried out, tears forming in her eyes. Everyone watched with smiles as she was then spanked several times for provoking Grayfia and Roygun.
***
A few days later it was time for the first matches of the main part of the tournament to be revealed, and Alex was at the colosseum with his team. Around them stood the rest of the teams that made it through the preliminary matches, there were the teams led by Alex, Rias, Sairaorg, Vali, and Cao Cao. As for the others, there were the teams being led by Indra, Mahabali, Typhon, Sun Wukong, Ruval Phoenix, Dulio, Tobio, the original Surtr, Barakiel, Diehauser Belial, and Shooting Star. In all, it was quite the line up of intimidating figures.
"Wow, look at everyone!" Lint said somewhat excitedly, as she looked around at all the top league opponents. Vasco started laughing and said,
"Seeing all these strong people makes this old mans blood start boiling." Bova nodded and declared,
"In order to become the "strongest dragon" to serve my master, facing these opponents is a must." Roygun also nodded her head at Bova"s words, and said,
"Indeed, the two of us need to do everything we can to ensure our lords victory, or we"ll both be failures." Crom didn"t say anything, but his eyes were blazing with fighting spirit at the opponents he would be able to face.
"I don"t care who we fight, as long as it"s not my Son-tan!?" Serafall declared, not even caring about the serious mood around them. Elmenhilde nodded at her words, but was confused when she singled out Sona, since she didn"t get through the preliminaries.
"From this point on I will devote everything I can into this team"s victory!" Ravel declared, as she was now a member of his team as well. After the preliminaries, any king that didn"t get through could also join a team that did as a member. As a result, Ravel joined Alex"s team to a.s.sist with strategies during matches, or before hand if she didn"t get a chance to partic.i.p.ate.
"If we face each other, I"ll see you on the battlefield Xenovia!" Irina declared, wanting to repay Xenovia beating her in the number of grim reapers they defeated the other day.
Alex laughed lightly as he heard his teammates words, and focused on his soon to be opponents. Next to his team was Rias"s team, with their newest member, Ingvild. Alex smiled when he saw the girl on her team, aware Ingvild was most likely a measure Rias was taking for him, Bova, and Crom. His attention was drawn back to the front however, when they revealed the first round of matches.
"You"re kidding me, right?"
"No way!"
"Ohohoho, I can"t wait."
Everyone had different reactions to the line up, but the most drastic one was perhaps Barakiel, who fell to his knees and cried out,
"WHY?!"
As he looked at his first match in the main tournament. His team, which was composed entirely of fallen angels, also looked as if they had already lost. Rias and her team also looked troubled, with Akeno being the most so. Alex on the other hand turned toward s Wukong, and grinned at his now former teacher. Wukong smiled back and said,
"Well now I have a chance to see how strong my pupil"s gotten."
***
Left bracket
Indra vs Mahabali
Sairaorg Bael vs shooting star
Rias Gremory vs Barakiel
Alex vs Sun Wukong
Right bracket
Cao Cao vs Surtr
Typhon vs Ruval phoenix
Dulio Gesualdo vs Tobio Ikuse
Vali Lucifer vs Diehauser Belial