章 349: Request

As the next several months slipped by a series of changes came to both Asora and the world they currently habited. One of the biggest changes to Asora was the 'technological revolution' that occurred simply due to Lala's efforts. No matter how much they tried, neither the Grigori or Hajime could keep up with the ridiculous pace Lala set for creating and incorporating outrageous new inventions, with the only thing slowing her down being the various 'mishaps' that tended to happen. Despite the various mishaps though, the thing about Lala's inventions that awed everyone within Asora was what they were able to function without any magic being involved whatsoever, whereas the Grigori had always used magic in order to fill in the gaps while Hajime relied on it entirely to even make his creations work.

Then was the grand opening of the Yukiguni winter resort, which featured everything one might enjoy in a winter wonderland from ski slopes to even a multitude of hot springs, all of which were extravagant enough to put any such facilities in the human world to shame. For the grand opening they even featured a competition for building snow and ice sculptures so that the Yuki-onna were able to show off their special abilities, until Serafall decided to join in. With her mountain sized sculpture easily dwarfing even the giant sculpture of Alex that the Snow Priestess created, she had been declared the unanimous winner.

And then after a full day of touring the resort, trying out the slopes that had been prepared, and enjoying a feast prepared by the welcoming snowy women, everyone made their way to the hot springs to enjoy a nice hot bath, while Alex and several other men enjoyed an extra service or two as well. It was at this time as well that Alex was personally thanked by the Snow Priestess for everything he had done for their people, a thanks that ended up going long into the night along with the Yuki-onna women she had personally selected for him.

Asora wasn't the only place that was experiencing changes though.

On earth the world was still undergoing several major shifts due to the existence of monsters being exposed, though thankfully the shift was happening easier than Mikogami and Touhou could have hoped for. Despite Alex saying he had no intentions of becoming actively involved in smoothening the transition to peace between the races, his decisions still ended up influencing the world's going ons more than he initially expected.

Firstly was his decision to keep the Haulia busy by sending them to destroy various criminal and terroristic organizations within the world, along with Yami and Lala for training. Not only did this eliminate various threats to public safety, but they also ended up revealing several plans to further widen the gap between the races by capturing and exploiting them in ways that included, but weren't limited to, monster girl brothels, Youkai slave trade, and even selling their body parts for medicine and other studies.

Of course the final straw with such activities for Alex had been when photos of his girls were found under a file for suspected or confirmed non-humans, with the words 'High Priority Targets' on it. That had resulted in the immediate purge of the entire organization, any that were connected to it, and several high ranking officials that were also tied to it, along with plenty of evidence of their wrongdoings coming to light for the world to see.

What had been surprising though was that the public opinion of Youkai was helped by a very unlikely source, Ingvild and Lilliana. As idols their popularity exploded after the take over of Rising Star Entertainment, up until their recent admission that neither of the two girls were actually human(though Lilliana was technically born a human).

This had caused a severe negative backlash at first as they were then accused of using their 'otherworldly powers' to cheat and make themselves more popular than they should have been, but neither girl paid attention to such accusations. Instead they then proactively began using their magic to add to their performances in ways that no other idol could ever hope to replicate.

Though there were always those who were prejudiced against them for not being human, their voices were soon drowned out by the increasingly overwhelming number of their dedicated fans. This number only grew when they introduced the mermaid troupe led by Ingvild's Pawn, Tamao, and the duo of Run and Kyoko, the latter of which had become Ingvild's new Pawn.

Despite being more of an actress than a singer at first, Kyoko had taken to her new role well as she helped her friend recover from what had happened to them, and her brother. Since Run's race were born as twins that shared single body from birth, she had taken the loss of her brother especially hard since they had quite literally shared one body and mind their entire lives up until recently. As such Kyoko and the the rest of Ingvild's group were doing everything they could to help Run recover, even after she seemed fine enough to return to the idol stage.

Meanwhile Mikogami and Touhou were doing everything in their power to ensure a future of peace between the Youkai and human people, despite the opposition they faced from the frightened human politicians. While the two of them became the public faces of the Youkai populations, Issa was secretly acting in the underworld to remove any threats to their efforts, especially on the side of the Youkai.

As could be expected not every Youkai that believed in their own supremacy had joined up with, and perished alongside Fairy Tale, but any that even tried drawing attention to themselves were swiftly visited by a member of the quickly recovering Shuzen family. The majority of these were actually vampires that had tried to make a name for themselves after believing that the Shuzen family were all but destroyed, but were swiftly proven wrong when any of the vampires that Yue evolved into Shinso showed up on their doorstep.

While it would be easier to simply have any of these vampires destroyed, Issa instead had them brought to him before giving them a choice, becoming his subordinates or being destroyed. Even if every Shinso that existed in the world was faithfully serving him, Issa knew that it wouldn't be simple to subdue the entire planet's population of vampires with just them, and as such he needed to build up his forces in order to prepare.

It was also partially due to this goal that Issa and his wife suddenly appeared in the wintery landscape that was Asora, both bundled up in the extra coats that had been provided by the rabbitmen that guarded the portal. He glanced around briefly at the alien world, before saying,

"Pretty cold here isn't it?" Akasha nodded and parroted what she had been told during one of her previous visits,

"Apparently the season changes depending on which world they're in, at first it was spring, then almost an entire year of summer, a very short autumn, and now they're in winter. Supposedly when they leave in a couple weeks it should be spring again." Issa nodded in understanding to his wife's explanation, even as his head turned every which way to take in the sights around him.

Though the primary reason he had come to Asora was to speak to Alex, he had also wanted to see what his daughter's new home was like. As Issa's gaze darted too and fro, he couldn't help the surprise he felt at what he saw.

Around him and Akasha was a multitude of people who didn't seem bothered by the cold as they walked around and ran whatever errands brought them from the comfort of their home, while several shop keepers and stall venders energetically tried to bring people to their respective businesses. Normally such a scene wouldn't be too weird, except a surprising amount of these people weren't human, and none of them were even trying to hide it. Not even considering the number of Youkai that had followed Yasaka, around Issa and Akasha was dozens of people with either fins where their ears were supposed to be, or long rabbit ears sticking up from their heads. The truly shocking thing was that no one seemed to mind those around them that obviously weren't the same species, even when some of the people, such as the rabbits, acted somewhat peculiar.

Seeing her husbands reaction, Akasha smiled and said knowingly, "Apparently the majority of the people living in Asora are those who had either been oppressed at some point, or their people had been involved in a war of some kind for thousands of years. From what I've been told, to them living in Asora is a way for them to live better lives away from hardships, oppression, and conflict they grew up with." She then went on to explain what she knew about the different people living in Asora, and some of the circumstances leading up to their migration. Since it was the place where her beloved daughters were going to be living from now on, Akasha had spent any time she wasn't training with them learning more about their new home.

Issa listened patiently as his wife told him the going ons of the worlds these people came from, his begrudging respect for Alex growing more than he'd ever care to admit. Though he couldn't help but respect his new son-in-law for his strength, authority, and capabilities, he still couldn't bring himself to genuinely like him since Alex had 'stolen' and defiled not one, two, or even three, but all four of his daughters.

Issa was trying not to think of that though since he needed to have a serious discussion with Alex when he saw him, and didn't want to spend the entire time with his temper rising from imagining what he might be doing with his daughters behind his back. And so he tried to focus on Akasha's voice as she led him through the streets towards the grandest manor they could see, until she knocked on the doors and they opened to reveal an immensely beautiful and mature woman.

She had deep purple eyes and long wavy hair that matched them, while her stupidly large breasts seemed to be just barely confined to her maid uniform. While Issa's eyes were bugging out at yet another gorgeous woman that was more than likely involved with is new son-in-law, the maid, Yubelluna, bowed her head politely to the duo before saying, "Lord Shuzen, Lady Bloodriver, to what do we owe the honor of your visit?"

Ignoring her husband, who was becoming increasingly red in the face, Akasha inclined her head in return before saying, "We were hoping to see Alex if he isn't too busy, Issa has something he wants to talk to him about." Yubelluna glanced at Issa when she heard this, only to see him becoming increasingly tense and agitated as he began wondering just how many women besides his daughters Alex had, she said,

"I see...follow me." She then turned and led the duo into the manor, before the doors closed automatically behind them. After shedding the extra layers due to the comforting warmth within the manor, Issa and Akasha followed Yubelluna's lead through the halls until they arrived at a dining area, where a group of women were sitting along with what seemed to be a small army of children. Akasha's smiled widened as several pairs of eyes focused on them, and she said while spreading her arms out wide,

"Well hello there everyone!" Amongst the children only a few got up and ran or waddled up to her for a hug, namely Myuu, Edith, and Mai, while the women also stood and greeted Akasha warmly. At their head was the only one Issa recognized amongst the group from the battle against Alucard, her striking long Crimson hair being a very distinguishing feature.

"Welcome back Akasha, how is everything out there?" Rias asked as she carefully adjusted the small bundle in her own arms. When she saw it though Akasha's eyes lit up as, instead of answering Rias's question, she instead asked,

"And who is this little fellow?" Rias flashed her her own motherly smile as she looked down at the bundle she was carrying, and shifted the blanket to reveal a baby that looked to be only a couple months old at the most, with his own tuft of striking Crimson hair.

"This is Ryoto, Ryoto Gremory." As she introduced him Rias couldn't help but to lovingly caress her son's head, still unbelieving that she herself was now a mother. It was now more than ever that she desired to return home to her parents, in order to introduce their second grandson to them.

Akasha then used her finger to gently poke the infant's belly playfully, prompting him to grab her finger with his tiny hand. As she was playing with the little infant though, the sound of fussing made Akasha look up to see another beautiful woman with a long black ponytail approaching them, with another bundle in her arms and an anxious looking man shadowing her every step.

"Shuri, what's wrong?! Tell grandpa what to do!" Barakiel cried anxiously even as Akeno giggled at her father's behavior.

"I think she's just hungry father, I'll feed her in a minute." Not at all convinced by his daughter's words, Barakiel continued fawning over his granddaughter until Akeno gently passed the baby that was only a few days younger than her brother Ryoto to her father, before turning to Akasha and asking,

"So what brings you here Akasha?" The pink haired woman backed away from the children slightly as she tried to keep in mind what they were originally there for, though she didn't know what Issa wanted to talk to Alex about. When she turned to look at her husband though, Akasha found Issa looking as if he had short circuited as images of his daughters presenting him hordes of grandchildren rushed through his head.

Slowly the aura coming off of Issa became more intense, until Akasha had to smack the back of his head while crying out, "What is wrong with you?! You're scaring the children!"

It wasn't until Akasha admonished him that Issa noticed the children trying to hide from him, while their mothers directed not so subtle dirty looks at him. Adopting a sheepish expression, Issa awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck while saying, "Sorry, I just suddenly got the image of being greeted by a swarm of grandchildren out of nowhere..." His expression then turned melancholic as Issa recalled his daughters as they were before he had been locked away, with Moka and Kokoa especially being little more than children at the time.

Barakiel then slapped his free hand into Issa's shoulder, and said comfortingly, "Take it from me, try not to think about things too much when it concerns our bastard of a son-in-law. The little shit will give you a heart attack if you dwell on him too much." As he trailed off Barakiel got a far away look in his eyes as he recalled when his daughter openly admitted to being Alex's sex slave during their rating game match, and the shame that followed her declaration.

He was then brought back to the present when said daughter suddenly seized his ear, and hissed as she skillfully took her own daughter back from him, "Watch your tongue, or are you trying to teach the children bad habits?" Barakiel's face paled significantly as he desperately waved his hands side to side and pleaded,

"No! I would never! It was only a minor slip of the tongue!" Akeno's expression morphed into a sadistic smile, as she then turned and started walking away while maintaining a grip on her father's ear.

"We'll just have to discuss this while I feed Shuri, and I'll make sure to discipline you properly so that there's no 'minor slips' in the future, ufufufufufufu." Everyone present sent Barakiel silent prayers for the suffering he was about to endure, while Issa was silently being thankful that none of his daughters ended up like Akeno. Rias then forcibly changed the topic by saying,

"I'll show you to the space-time orb, Alex is spending the entire day inside it today." Though she also knew they way to it, Akasha followed Rias without another word while Issa silently followed the two women, and Yubelluna went back to her previous work.

After placing his hand against a strange looking orb, Issa then found himself standing in front a grand villa as the roar of cascading water filled his ears, and the warmth of the midday spring sun hit his skin. Smirking at his reaction, Akasha stepped forward as a silver haired maid approached them this time, before bowing respectfully and saying,

"Greetings, my lord is currently otherwise engaged, but he will be along shortly once his current obligation is over with. Until then I will gladly give you a tour around our facilities lord Shuzen." Though Issa wanted to comment about Alex making his in-laws wait on him, a look from Akasha silenced his protest as he instead said,

"I would love a tour of these amazing facilities, miss-"

"Grayfia." The silver haired maid supplied, as she had never formally met Issa before. She then began directing the duo around the various areas of the villa, as well as introducing any of the residents they came across, while also secretly feeling relieved that she didn't have to tell Issa that Alex's current 'engagement' was that he was busy screwing all four of his daughters, as well as his ex-wife at the moment.

Hoping to buy time until they finished, Grayfia led the duo around the villa and several of the floating islands for well over an hour, until finally Alex made his appearance along with the very bashful looking Shuzen sisters. Though he himself wasn't fazed at all by what they were just doing, none of the four sisters could look their father in the face after what they had just been doing with Alex, while Gyokuro had a noticeable smirk on the edge of her lips. When he noticed them though Issa glared somewhat at Alex and stated,

"Finally, I suppose you finished whatever business you had?" Alex's welcoming smile threatened to turn into a shit-eating grin as he took Issa's hand to shake it, and replied,

"Yes I did, and I'm very sorry to make you wait as long as you had to." Issa nodded in approval at Alex's attitude before following Grayfia to a room where they could talk, however Akasha gave him a deadpan stare due to her suspicions on what they had been doing, which were fueled by the memories of herself when she had been part of the rosary. She didn't say anything though in order to avoid an argument as everyone took their seats in a lounge, Akasha and Issa on one couch while Alex shared one with Moka and Akua as Kokoa and Kahlua stood behind them, and Grayfia went to fetch refreshments with Gyokuro.

It wasn't until after everyone had a bit to snack on and drink that Alex finally looked Issa in the eye and asked, "So what brings the two of you here today?" Issa's expression turned serious as he put down his cup of tea and leaned forward, before saying,

"To put it bluntly, I want you to take Akasha with you when you leave our world." A stunned silence settled within the lounge as everyone took in what he said, before Akasha leapt up and demanded,

"What was that?!" Issa sighed under his wife's glowering look, before explaining,

"In order to help establish a future of peace between the races, I'll soon be at war with the rest of the vampires of the world. They're simply too proud or arrogant to try and live without suppressing humans now that we are exposed, and my informants around the world have already told me that they're preparing their forces as well, though we don't know exactly what for yet." Right as the words left his mouth though, Akasha stated,

"Then wouldn't you need me to help you, or do you think I'm not up to it after being consumed by Alucard for so long?!" A dangerous tone crept into Akasha's voice at the second half of her declaration, while she also started radiating an intense aura at her husband. In the face of his wife's anger though, Issa just snorted and stated plainly,

"Even after I also became a Shinzo I doubt I can match up to you, the last thing you'll ever hear from me is that you aren't up to it." Akasha stated calming down when she heard Issa state he wasn't sidelining her due to thinking she couldn't handle it, and instead focused on something else he said.

"You're a Shinzo now too?" She asked questioningly, before everyone turned and looked towards Alex in sync, to which he waved his hand dismissively and said,

"Dot look at me, I haven't seen Issa once ever since the day we killed Alucard." Though a few of the girls with him were skeptical at first, Issa confirmed Alex's words and said,

"No he didn't do it, but someone else did. They also stated that subduing the vampires of this world is a 'test' of my capabilities, so not only can't I rely on your help Akasha, but I also personally don't want you to participate in this fight." Issa then stood and took Akasha's hands in his own, before continuing,

"You have have already sacrificed yourself twice for the sake of peace, asking you to participate in anymore fighting is too much. I just want you to be able to enjoy your life for once, in the peace that this world offers with Moka and the others." Though Akasha wanted to argue against Issa's reasoning, she was unable to do so when Moka took one of her hands in her own with a hopeful look in her eyes.

Akasha looked her daughter in the eyes before glancing around at the rest of the girls gathered there, Akua, Kahlua, Kokoa(Gyokuro was gagging in the background), and sighed in resignation. Even if the only one she had given birth to was Moka, as far Akasha was concerned all four of her husband's daughters were like her own children, and as such she couldn't deny that she'd like to stay with each of them even after they left this world.

"Fine then..." She said eventually, causing everyone to let out the breath they had unintentionally been holding. Moka then pulled her mother into a hug, which was quickly joined by the rest of their family(sans Gyokuro) as Alex watched warmly from the side.

The moment didn't last longer than a couple minutes though, when Issa eventually turned to face Alex, his expression serious as he said, "There's one last thing before I leave." Alex cocked his head to the side curiously at Issa's words, before asking,

"Oh? And what is that?" Issa looked him in the eye as the rest of the girls looked at them curiously, before he finally said as his aura intensified,

"I can't truly accept your relationship with my daughters, at least not before crossing fists with you at least once." When he heard that Alex was momentarily stunned, as it was a little too late to ask for Issa's 'blessing' regarding him being with his daughters, but after a second a smile spread on his lips as he replied,

"Very well, let's go then."