Kenji exhaled a long, slow breath, his shoulders remained rigid as he stared at his daughter.
"Why do you insist on staying here?" he asked, the question sounding more like an exhausted plea than a demand. He looked between Ayaka and Aoi, his golden eyes searching their faces. "After everything that just happened… why are you so stubborn about remaining in this place?"
He took a step toward them. "Let's just go back."
Ayaka glared at him, her eyes sparking with a defiance that was a mirror image of his own with her mother's eyes. "I'm not going."
Kenji's jaw tightened, a muscle jumping in his cheek. The frustration he had been banking for threatened to boil over. "Really? After everything? You're going to be this hard-headed, even now? You saw what nearly happened."
He began to pace before He stopped abruptly, turning toward them with a sharp, piercing look that could have cut through steel.
"Give me a reason," he said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register that made the kids behind them nearby flinch. "Give me one good reason not to just ignore everything you're saying, pick you both up, and drag you back to Japan regardless of your choices. Because right now, every fatherly instinct I have is screaming to do just that."
"You can't just do that!" Ayaka yelled.
"Oh, trust me, I can," he retorted, his voice rising in tandem with hers. "It would be the easiest thing I've done all day. Why do you want to be here? In the Underworld, of all places? If you wanted to travel, I hear Thailand is nice this time of year. There's New Zealand, Iceland, Greece… hell, even Hawaii." He paused, his expression darkening as a specific memory surfaced. "Wait, maybe not Greece."
He muttered that last part to himself, his mind briefly flickering idiots of the Greek Pantheon. 'Forget about destroying the Devils and the Fallen. If my family ended up in Greece and crossed paths with those lecherous Olympians, I'd definitely have to unmake the mountain. No ifs, buts, or maybes. I'd just nuke the whole pantheon from orbit and let the Mediterranean swallow the ruins.'
He shook the thought away and focused back on the girls, his frustration turning into genuine confusion. "So tell me, why are you here despite not being able to protect yourselves? Why do you want to be here?"
He was honestly trying to understand. He knew they understood the dangers, yet Ayaka remained immovable.
Aoi stood slightly behind her sister, watching the argument. She missed the comfort of her own room already and wanted to go back, but she wasn't going to leave Ayaka here.
She also understood the unspoken truth, if they left now, their father would never let them leave again. His overprotectiveness was becoming a gilded cage, and this was their one chance to pry the door open and let him start seeing that they can start taking care of themselves in things like this. Still. 'Could Ayaka have picked a worse place than the Underworld?' Aoi wondered. 'Probably not.'
"Dad," Aoi started, her voice soft but carrying a weight that forced Kenji to stop his pacing again.
He looked at his younger daughter, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to reach for her. He forced himself to remain silent, giving her the floor to speak.
"Look, we… we understand that you're worried," she said carefully, stepping into the space between her father and sister. "We really do. We saw what you did for us. We saw how much you care. But you can't just lock us up in a single place forever. That's not a life, Dad."
Kenji winced.
"You told us yourself," she continued, her voice gaining strength, "that the reason you didn't like the Three Factions was because of the chaos and the 'games' they play with human lives."
Around them, the gathered Devils and Fallen frowned.
"You wanted to keep us safe, so you trained us," Aoi said, and Kenji nodded slowly, his shoulders finally losing some of their aggressive hunch. "But we also have to have a life to live. We can't exactly have normal friends without lying to them about things like this, after all. So why not people like Rias and Koneko."
"Yeah," Ayaka added, crossing her arms defiantly. "Just because you hate all devils doesn't mean we have to adopt your grudges as our own."
"I don't hate all devils," Kenji said immediately, his voice firm and resonant.
Both girls gave him a perfectly synchronized deadpan look that would have been comical if the atmosphere wasn't so thick with tension.
"I don't," he repeated, sighing as he ran a hand through his matted hair. "Yeah, I dislike them. I find their society archaic and their politics a nauseating mess of egos. But I made my peace a long time ago with the fact that you'd eventually cross paths with them." He glanced toward Rias and her peerage, who were standing away, watching them. "I don't complain about your friendship with the Gremory girl, do I? As long as she doesn't cross the line and decide to turn you into a 'knight' or a 'pawn,' I was content to stay out of it."
His tone suddenly turned freezing, the air around him dropping several degrees. "But coming all the way to the Underworld? That is a different level of risk. If something happens here, I'm not just a car ride away, I won't even know until I'm told."
"You don't need to protect us, we can take care of ourselves!" Ayaka shouted, her frustration boiling over.
This time, both Kenji and Aoi turned to her with raised brows. Aoi's face practically screamed, 'Are you serious right now? We were literally just crying.'
"Rias and her brother were here," Ayaka continued, though her voice wavered as she realized how weak that argument sounded after seeing Kenji punch Sirzechs through a mountain. "They are the rulers here. They would have protected us. It would have been fine."
"Really?" Kenji said, the word dripping with sarcasm so sharp it was a wonder it didn't draw blood. He pointed a scarred finger at the Gremory siblings. "Them? You want to trust your lives to them?"
"Hey!" Rias shouted, stepping forward with her chin held high, despite the dirt on her face. "I could have protected them! My House stands at the very top of the Pillar families!"
"Really? You?" Kenji looked at her, his golden eyes scanning her with a cold intensity.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rias felt the insult like a physical weight on her chest.
"No offense," Kenji said, though his tone suggested he didn't care if he offended the entire underworld, "but from what I've heard, you couldn't even resolve your own engagement problems without outside help. You lacked the power and the political backbone to say 'no' to a mid-tier noble like Raiser Phenex. You needed Issei and your brother to essentially rig a game for you. So don't talk to me about protection. You can't even protect yourself."
"Hey!" Issei yelled, his Boosted Gear flickering with a faint, angry red light, but Kenji's glare silenced him.
"And let's not pretend politics don't shackle even the 'Great Lucifer' himself," Kenji continued, turning his gaze toward Sirzechs and Ajuka, who were standing together. "Tell me, Lucifer, if one of your 'Old satan loyalists' or some rogue noble from the outer territories decides my daughter would make a fine addition to his harem or his peerage while you're busy, can you free her immediately? Or would you start giving me excuses about 'council approval,' laws,' and shit like that?"
Sirzechs opened his mouth to argue, but the words died in his throat. He knew the Council. He knew how they would try to use such a situation to leverage power against him.
"Isn't it true," Kenji pressed, his voice rising in volume, "that there are thousands of reincarnated devils in the underworld who were forced into service against their will? People who were dying and were given a 'choice' that wasn't a choice at all? people who were killed and then brought back to serve? Have you helped them? No. You use it. You benefit from it."
The silence that followed was heavy and uncomfortable.
"So no, you can't expect me to just stand by," Kenji concluded, his voice echoing across the wasteland. "I won't have my daughters surrounded by beings who treat people like trading cards and enslave them. Are you expecting me to believe that if you were told Rias was spending her summer vacation in the middle of the Vatican, you wouldn't be there already, ready to level the city to bring her back? Don't judge my reaction when you'd do the exact same thing."
He challenged the Crimson King to deny it. Sirzechs looked away, his gaze falling on the ruined planes of his family territory.
"It's not slavery!" Rias yelled again, her voice cracking with emotion.
"Then explain it to me," Kenji shot back instantly. "In a way that doesn't involve one person owning the literal essence of another."
"They're my family!" Rias glared at him, her eyes brimming with anger for him even suggesting that about her friends.
"Oh, wonderful. A family," Kenji said dryly. "Tell me, does this 'family' allow members to walk away? Can they decide they're tired of the fighting and just go live a human life without your input or your permission? Can they quit?"
Rias hesitated, her silence answering for her.
"Can the others?" Kenji pushed, his voice relentless. "Can the servants in other peerages leave without being branded as 'stray' and hunted down for execution? No. They can't. Call it what you want, Rias. You may consider them family, but the system is built on ownership. It's slavery with a fresh coat of paint and a fancy name."
In the ringing silence that followed, a small, monotone voice cut through the air.
"…Asshole."
Koneko was staring at him from behind Rias, her yellow eyes narrowed.
Kenji paused, looking at the small, feline girl. Then, unexpectedly, he laughed, a short, sharp bark of genuine amusement, he didn't even know why, but he found that funny. "Yeah," he admitted, his posture finally relaxing an inch. "I am an asshole. And I have every reason to be."
The laughter faded into a heavy, weary sigh. "Please. Let's just go. I'm tired, you're hurt."
Ayaka didn't budge. She planted her feet in the dirt, her expression as stubborn as her mother when she wants to be.
Kenji's face darkened again. The playfulness was gone. "You really are going to make me drag you back home, aren't you?"
Both girls tensed. They knew that if he reached for them, it was over. No one here could stop him, he'd already shown that earlier.
Suddenly, Rias and her entire peerage moved, forming a physical barrier in front of the Takahashi sisters. Issei, Kiba, Koneko, and even Asia stood their ground.
"They said they want to stay! You can't just ignore what they want!" Issei yelled, the Boosted Gear pulsing.
The adults behind them, Sirzechs, Azazel, and Serafall, all tensed, their auras beginning to flicker back to life. Ready if he made a move against the children.
Kenji raised his right hand slowly. The tension around spiked instantly. Everyone braced themselves.
Snap.
The sound of his fingers clicking was like a thunderclap, making some even flinch back. Suddenly, two magic circles flared into existence on either side of him.
Two figures stepped out of the light, kneeling the moment their feet hit the ground.
"Lord Kenji," they spoke in unison.
Roman and Katie. The two, Devil and mage, subordinates Kenji had bound to his own service. The two kept their heads bowed, not looking up or caring about the others they could sense around them.
Kenji didn't even acknowledge the Gremory peerage's 'stand.' He kept his eyes on his subordinates. "Roman, Katie. My daughters seem to have, in their stubbornness, decided to stay in the Underworld despite my better judgment. It seems I cannot convince them otherwise without breaking their spirits."
He looked at his daughters, who were watching Roman and Katie with wide, surprised eyes. "So, I'll leave it to you. You will stay here. You will watch over them in my absence. You will keep them safe, and you will ensure that no 'fools' or 'accidents' touch them while I am gone."
Ayaka and Aoi's faces lit up. Was their father really going to let them stay, "If anything," Kenji continued, his voice dropping to a whisper that felt like a blade against the throat of everyone listening, "and I mean anything serious happens… if a single hair on their heads is harmed by a Fallen, a Devil, or a stray…"
He didn't finish. He didn't need to. Roman and Katie both raised their heads, their eyes glowing with a fierce light that mirrored Kenji's own.
"We will handle it, Lord Kenji," Roman said, his voice as cold.
"And should we be unable to resolve the matter ourselves," Katie added, her gaze sweeping over the Satan-class beings with a chilling lack of fear, "we will inform you immediately, my lord. We will be your eyes and ears while you're away."
To be entrusted with his daughters was the highest mission they could receive. And they were ready to do anything to gain the favor of their lord.
"Wait, you can't just station personal guards in the Gremory territory, like this!" Serafall began.
Kenji ignored her as He turned to the girls, his expression finally softening into the daily dad they were used to seeing every morning. "Your mother has informed me that she'll be coming to the Underworld in a few days."
The girls froze. "Mom is coming here? What? how? Why?" Ayaka asked with a puzzled look.
"She is. So expect her." He paused, producing two silver rings from his inventory. He handed one to each of them. "If you are in danger, just channel your mana into these. It alerts me, and no matter where I am, I'll be there in an instant."
He stepped forward, pulling both of them into a brief, crushing embrace. For a moment, the 'Monster' that had been beating the shit out of the leaders of the fallen and devils was gone, nowhere to be seen, replaced by a man who was simply terrified of the world swallowing his children.
"…Be careful," he whispered into their hair.
He stepped back, his face returning to its stoic mask. He summoned Yamato. With a single slash, he ripped a seam in reality.
Before stepping through, he turned back to the gathered leaders of the Three Factions. His golden eyes swept over the battered forms of Sirzechs, Ajuka, and Azazel one last time.
"Should anything happen to my family," he said, his voice quiet but carrying the absolute weight of a universal law, "I won't hold back like I did today. I will burn this realm to the bedrock, erase your names from history. This is the third time I'm telling you this, Azazel, and it annoys me that I've not been able to make good on my word yet. You must have someone looking out for you. Let's just hope they're still there the next time we meet. I'll kill you one day, fallen."
Without waiting for a response, he stepped through the rift. The space snapped shut behind him.
Now he had something else he wanted to take care of before leaving to cool off somewhere far off from all this.
————————————————————
If you want to read ahead and access 40 advanced chapters, check the patreon. $4 Dollars
Link:patreon/Phantomking785