章 354: Departure

The day had finally arrived. It was one several people had been looking forward to for quite a while. Finally, the day had come that everyone would transition to a new world.

As the countdown for Alex's ability to transfer world's winded down, there was a veritable buzz of excitement as everyone made their own preparations. The Grigori prepared for all of the data they'd gather from said new world, the Devils were on standby for the orders to go out and establish contracts like they had on this world, while the ones who were the most excited were those who studied magic since Alex did tell them that Earthland was filled with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of mages.

However one particular group's preparations were quite unlike everyone else's.

Hundreds of figures wearing hooded robes were gathered as torches and bonfires burned around them, each facing their chief as he held up a few movies.

"As our time in this world draws to a close, it is time for us to retire the first of the great teachings of the boss!"

"""BOSS! BOSS! BOSS!"""

The rest of the robed figures cried out, as Cam placed the movies to the side. He then held up a series of video games, and continued,

"Now we move onto the next of the great teachings,

"Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember,"

"""NOTHING IS TRUE!"""

"Where other men are limited by morality or law, remember,"

"""EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED!"""

"We work in the dark to serve the boss!"

"""WE ARE ASSASSINS!"""

As the entire tribe of rabbits finished their declaration, Cam turned around and grabbed the edges of his hood and pulled it up to cover his face, an action copied by every other rabbit behind him as one. They then crossed their wrists in front of their chests, and with a metallic click small blades slinked out from within the sleeves of their robes.

***

While everyone was preparing for the journey to Earthland, the man who would make it all happen was relaxing in one of the rooms within the Misty Manor with a veritable horde of children surrounding him. With all of the youngest children having fallen asleep, Myuu was the only one sitting in Alex's lap awake as she looked up at him and asked with pouty eyes,

"Papa, do you really have to go now?" Alex smiled sadly, and explained,

"Yes I do, and I'll miss you while I'm gone." Myuu pouted again before demanding, while also trying to stay silent for the other children,

"But why do you think you'll need to be gone for so long!?" Alex looked increasingly sad at Myuu's expression, and once again wondered if it had been wise to tell her that it was probably going to be a while until he came back.

He was going to Earthland with the intention of finding more reincarnators to begin with, meaning he had no idea what powers he could expect them to have. That was why he intended to avoid traveling to Asora as much as possible until he was sure that the other reincarnators weren't able to trespass it, or until he established a safe place to place the portal.

Though the best case scenario was that there was no danger and they would be home later in time for dinner, Alex still wanted to be able to say goodbye to his children before going, a sentiment both Grayfia and Rias shared. The Crimson haired woman was practically heartbroken at the thought of potentially leaving Ryoto behind for so long, but when Alex asked if she wanted to stay, Rias had firmly declared that she also had her duty as his 'Bishop' as well as that of a mother. She had then gone on to say that the faster they beat any reincarnators or established a safe place, the faster she could return to her son.

Though he also tried to explain this to Myuu, the emerald haired Dagon could only pout in response before wrapping her arms tightly around Alex's chest, seemingly refusing to let him go. Alex could only smile wryly at this, as he relaxed and started to gently rub Myuu's back comfortingly until she too eventually began snoozing over an hour later.

After extracting himself from her embrace, Alex slowly began to make his way to the door where he found Rias trying to enter instead. He put one of his finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet, which Rias nodded in understanding before tiptoeing silently into the room with a small red and black blanket tucked under her arm. Alex watched as Rias gently laid the blanket on Ryouto, and bent over to lightly kiss his forehead before leaving the room just as stealthily as she entered it. Once the doors clicked shut, she explained with a slightly pained expression,

"I heard that if a mother sleeps with their baby's blanket for a few days it'll get their scent on it and help relax the baby when they're not around, I just hope it works." Though Alex wasn't so sure it would work, he kept his doubts to himself as they turned to leave their children behind. Waiting for them in the dining room was the rest of Alex's peerage, Anne, and several other key figures of Asora, namely Yasaka, Gabriel, Serafall, Barakiel, Hajime, and the Snow Priestess.

Alex looked over all of them before saying, "For those of you I haven't mentioned it to, this time we're going into the new world expecting there to be other reincarnators. This means that we have no idea what to expect despite any knowledge I may already have about that world.

"If whoever's there is hostile, then I'll send someone to deliver a quick message saying so before we go silent completely. Only once we can establish a protected base, or if it's still peaceful, will we return. I'll expect you all to keep the place running smoothly until then." Though he got several eye rolls, everyone gave their word to him that they'd make sure nothing happened to Asora while Alex and the others were gone.

While Anne would normally stay behind and run things herself in Alex's absence, part of the reason they were going to Earthland in the first place was to have her learn more about Sky Dragon Slayer magic. So when he turned to leave with the small horde of women that were a part of his peerage, she was at his side as well.

One by one they disappeared into the wall of mist behind Alex, with Yami bringing up the rear, as they reentered this version of earth for the last time. Waiting for them at a deserted area of the Youkai Academy grounds was those who they were leaving behind, Mikogami, Issa, Touhou and his family, as well as a couple of the teaching staff such as Nekonome. Alex cocked an eyebrow when he saw them, and asked,

"Come to see us off?" Touhou nodded and said with a small smile,

"And to thank you one last time for everything you've done for us." Everyone around him nodded in agreement as Alex and the girls waved away their thanks, while Yami and Lala looked at them curiously since they hadn't met any of the people before them.

Mikogami then stepped up to Sun, and said, "Sun, you are the best student I've ever had in this academy, and I'm proud of what you've accomplished. Though I had hoped you'd be able to take my place as a Dark Lord someday, I can't bring myself to ask you to stay for us. Good luck." Sun began to tear up at Mikogami's words before she quickly wrapped her arms around him and said in the most beautiful voice any of them had ever heard,

"Thank you..."

As a baby Sun had been abandoned by her parents due to her extreme amounts of supernatural power, resulting in her practically being raised by the academy. Though she and Mikogami had barely, if at all, exchanged any words as she grew up, he was still in a way her guardian since it was his academy she had been entrusted to, and because he had especially kept a close eye on her after learning about how powerful she was.

After a moment of looking awkward due to him not being one to show affection, Mikogami then awkwardly patted Sun's shoulder as if to return her gesture, making her smile widely before releasing him and backing away. His reaction earned Mikogami a teasing look specifically from Touhou, before he then looked at Alex and said seriously,

"Us too, once again thank you for helping Fang-Fang discover his talent, and reinstating the peace between our families." Once again Alex waved away Touhou's thanks, and responded,

"Don't think anything of it. I just helped Fang-Fang as one martial artist to another." As he said this Alex nodded in Fang-Fang's direction, prompting the young man to respectfully return the gesture.

Though he had looked fairly feminine and weak when they first met, Fang-Fang had really matured and manned up after discovering his talent in martial arts. He still had some of his feminine features, but you would be hard pressed to confuse him for a girl at all now. Another change though was a far more subtle one, as Fang-Fang's hand accidentally brushed against his former rival's, Xia-Long, and both men blushed while pointedly looking away at the contact.

Raising his brow after witnessing the display, Alex was tempted to say something to tease the two before Nekonome suddenly spoke up,

"Can you tell Ririko that I'll miss her~Nya? It's going to be a bit more lonely here in the future..." Alex smiled awkwardly as he reached out and scratched behind her ears, and said,

"Yeah, but we should be back someday, we just don't know when exactly." Though she had her eyes squinted in pleasure from Alex scratching behind her ears, Nekonome still perked up a little when he said that they'd be back one day.

Slowly the goodbyes continued as Touhou and Mikogami also said farewell to Moka, as old friends of her mother, and then Issa fought the urge to break down in tears as he said his farewells as well. He had already said farewell to her before along with Akua, Kahlua, Kokoa, and Akasha; but with this being the final time he would see her for who knew how many years, Issa was having a hard time keeping his emotions in check.

Once that was done Alex turned to each of the girls accompanying him, his 'Dragon Empress' Anne, his 'Queen' Kuroka, his 'Bishops' Rias and Yue, his 'Rooks' Shia and Moka, his 'Knight' Shizuku, and last but certainly not least, his 'Pawns' Grayfia, Kurumu, Sun, Lala, and Yami. After looking all of them in the face, and seeing their resolution, Alex asked,

"Who's ready?" One by one each of the twelve women have their confirmation that they were ready to leave, before Alex turned and opened the portal to their next destination, Earthland.