High School DxD: The Lucifer's Devil Trigger — Chapter 66

Chapter 66: The Next Destination

By the time Levi had settled Grayfia into bed and returned to the main hall, the aftermath of the banquet had fully set in. The group was sprawled across the floor, most of them dead to the world, snoring softly amidst the scattered bottles and overturned cushions.

Just before dawn, the few who hadn’t succumbed to the alcohol—Artoria, Tiamat, Eirin Yagokoro, and Kazami Yuuka—had already begun the quiet work of cleaning up after the drunkards.

The heavy veil of night had completely faded. A pale, crisp white light began to bleed across the distant horizon, signaling the arrival of morning.

Yakumo Yukari stepped lightly over a sleeping Kuroka and slowly walked to Levi’s side. “Once they sober up, you’ll be leaving, won’t you?”

She was now Levi’s Bishop. If he left, she was bound to follow.

“Yeah. There are other matters to handle back in my territory,” Levi replied, his gaze sweeping over the sleeping forms of his peerage. “As for Gensokyo, will leaving it in the hands of your shikigami and Reimu Hakurei really work out?”

Yukari unfurled her fan, hiding the lower half of her face. “Reimu is already used to it. And as for Ran—if she puts in just a little more effort, it will absolutely be fine.”

Hearing her breezy tone, Levi suddenly realized he hadn’t seen a single trace of the nine-tailed fox during the entire banquet. “You really know how to work your shikigami to the bone.”

“Don’t make me sound like a tyrant! I tried to persuade her nicely. Staying behind to manage things was entirely Ran’s own choice!”

Levi gave her a flat, unconvinced look. Yeah, right.

They stood together in the quiet dawn, chatting casually as the light outside grew stronger. They talked for a long time, the easy rhythm of their conversation a stark contrast to the chaotic night before.

Eventually, Yukari snapped her fan shut. “Alright, Lord Levi. Although I don’t need to pack any luggage thanks to my gaps, if I’m truly leaving, I still need to say my goodbyes to a few people.”

“Go ahead.”

Levi watched as a tear in reality unzipped beside her, filled with eerie, staring eyes.

Before stepping through the boundary, Yukari paused. She turned slightly, looking back at him over her shoulder. “Logically, I should say thank you for your help this time. But considering I’ve already offered myself to you as payment, let’s skip the formalities.”

A brilliant smile broke across her face. It was brighter than the morning glow blooming on the horizon, entirely devoid of her usual teasing shroud. “After all, I’m only seventeen. I’ll live for a very, very long time, and I’ll be pestering you from now on. So… please take care of me for the rest of our lives.”

Levi held her gaze, a faint, genuine smile touching his own lips. “Yeah. Please take care of me for the rest of our lives.”

“My name is Yakumo Yukari. Although everyone here should have crossed paths with me at some point, I believe it’s best to formally introduce myself.”

Yukari stood in the center of the living room. She glanced at Levi standing beside her, then out at the gathered members of his peerage. She wore her usual composed smile, but beneath her ribs, her heart was churning with an unfamiliar, restless anxiety.

“I am Lord Levi’s Bishop. If nothing goes wrong, we will be companions from now on.”

Companions.

People had said that word to her before. But for Yakumo Yukari—a being who had carried the weight of her world alone for almost her entire existence—this was the very first time she had spoken the word herself.

The sheer novelty of it made her nervous. Would this tight-knit group truly accept her? Was the sole, enigmatic Gap Youkai even worthy of having companions?

“Welcome to the group, nya!” Kuroka was the first to react, raising a hand high in the air with a wide, feline grin.

Shirone, standing quietly behind her older sister, offered Yukari a polite, welcoming nod.

Artoria, always a pillar of gentle chivalry toward new allies, smiled warmly. Tiamat simply hummed in agreement, her maternal aura practically overflowing. “From now on, we are all one family.”

“Yay! A new sister!” Ingvild laughed brightly, lunging forward to wrap Yukari in a tight, sudden hug.

Yukari froze, entirely dazed by the physical affection. Seeing the youkai’s stunned expression, Sakura quickly stepped in, gently trying to pry the energetic Leviathan off while apologizing on her behalf.

Even Grayfia, who had reverted to her strict, icy maid persona now that she was sober, offered a respectful bow. Yukari could easily sense the absolute lack of hostility beneath the silver-haired devil’s cold exterior.

Yukari stood paralyzed, her mind blanking. Even after Sakura managed to peel Ingvild away, the Gap Youkai remained rooted to the spot, struggling to process the overwhelming, unconditional acceptance.

Levi finally spoke up, pulling her from her trance. “Don’t worry. No one here is going to exclude you. I’ve said it before—my servants are different from other devils. I treat them all like family.”

Levi meant every word. His biological parents were long dead. His grandfather was Rizevim Livan Lucifer, a psychotic supremacist he would eventually have to kill with his own hands. He had a half-brother, Vali, but their relationship was lukewarm at best; they could hold a conversation, but that was the extent of it.

This peerage was his only real family. Whenever this eclectic group gathered in one room, it gave Levi a deep sense of home. It was a warmth he guarded ruthlessly.

Yukari had never experienced anything like it. She was the one and only Gap Youkai in existence. If anyone could barely count as family, it was Reimu Hakurei, whom she had practically raised. Not even Ran could compare; to Yukari, her brilliant shikigami was more of an very useful tool than a daughter.

Hearing Levi’s words, Yukari fell silent. The anxiety in her chest slowly dissolved, replaced by a quiet, steady warmth.

Under the attentive gaze of her new family, she finally nodded, a genuine, soft smile gracing her lips. “Yes. I understand.”

Yukari’s official induction sparked another round of lively celebration. It wasn’t until evening that the manor finally quieted down, allowing Levi to gather his servants for a strategic briefing.

“Noah’s Ark has been completed,” Levi announced, leaning against the edge of a large table. “The next step, as I promised, is to take the Ark into a parallel world. We will accompany Artoria to witness the true results of her original choices.”

The construction of the Ark had progressed with terrifying efficiency. The Lucifer Territory possessed every rare material and resource required. Levi had simply handed the blueprints and magical schematics to Grayfia, and she had overseen the project flawlessly.

Levi turned to a whiteboard behind him and uncapped a marker. He wrote down three distinct names: The Five Principal Clans, Grigori, and The Witches of Oz.

He set the marker down and faced his peerage. “Originally, I would have added the Four Great Demon-Hunter Clans to this list, but those bloodlines are practically extinct. The Ryougi family is the only one left with any real standing, and Tohsaka Tokiomi has already opened negotiations with them. They won’t be a problem.”

He shifted his gaze to Yukari. When it came to the supernatural ecosystem of the Far East, no one possessed more authority than her.

Catching his look, Yukari smoothly took over. “I have a firm grasp on the youkai factions of the Far East. The Nura Clan, the Kyoto Clan, Hagoromo Gitsune, and the various scattered independent forces. There are indeed Great Youkai and Ultimate-class entities among them. Leave them to me. By the day after tomorrow at the latest, I guarantee they will not interfere with our movements.”

Levi nodded in approval. He turned back to the whiteboard, picked up a red pen, and drew a thick circle around The Witches of Oz. After a brief hesitation, he underlined Grigori.

“The most critical variable here is the Witches of Oz,” Levi stated, his tone dropping an octave. “You might not fully grasp the weight of that name. But remember this one fact: they are a magician faction capable of creating entirely new worlds within the Dimensional Gap. They even built a sovereign territory called ‘Oz’ inside that void. That alone demands our utmost caution.”

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. Creating worlds. Those two words were enough to convey the sheer, terrifying scale of the magic they were dealing with.

Levi moved his pen to the underlined name. “Then there is Grigori. To put it bluntly, it is the central organization of the Fallen Angels. Honestly, I have zero desire to cross paths with Azazel’s faction at this stage. But their intelligence network and connections in the human world far exceed what we devils possess. Since we need to operate in this territory, we cannot completely bypass them.”

He paused, letting the information settle. “However, they aren’t an immediate existential threat to us. We need to remain vigilant, but there is no need to be overly anxious.”

Finally, he tapped the board next to the first name. “That leaves the Five Principal Clans. These exorcist families have been secretly guarding the Far East for generations.”

When he spoke of the Five Principal Clans, the caution in Levi’s voice vanished, replaced by a cold, unmistakable disdain. He wasn’t prejudiced against humans or exorcists. He simply looked down on them from the bottom of his heart.

Ever since the Raiko incident, the relationship between the Five Principal Clans and Grigori had plummeted to absolute zero. The exorcist clans had caused endless diplomatic friction, accusing Azazel of harboring dangerous ‘evil spirits’—Sacred Gear users—that threatened the safety of the Far East. They had pursued Grigori relentlessly over the matter.

Azazel, lacking his usual warmongering drive, hadn’t wanted to escalate the conflict. Because the Five Principal Clans hadn’t actually dirtied their own hands during the Raiko incident, Azazel couldn’t rationally justify an open war against them. As a result, the exorcist families had grown arrogant, taking full advantage of the Fallen Angel Governor’s restraint.

But their hypocrisy was staggering. Later, when the rogue Fallen Angel Kokabiel threatened to ignite a new Great War—pointing his stolen Holy Swords directly at Kuoh Town and placing millions of civilians in his blast radius—the Five Principal Clans had vanished. They didn’t make a single sound. From the beginning of the crisis to its end, they cowered in their estates.

They had the audacity to attack Azazel, calling him a madman who endangered the Far East. Yet when a true madman like Kokabiel arrived to actually destroy the region? Not a peep.

It had been the exact same story during the previous Great Youkai War. The elite exorcists hid behind their barriers, sending only a pitiful handful of low-ranking members to evacuate civilians.

With that kind of spineless track record, what right did they have to demand Levi’s respect?

He had written their name on the board for one simple reason: they were the first obstacle he intended to crush.

Just as Levi opened his mouth to detail his strategy, a complex black magic circle flared to life in the center of the hall.

Tohsaka Rin stepped out of the fading light, her twin-tails swaying as she adjusted her posture.

This was Yukari’s first time seeing the young magus. Levi was about to introduce them, but Rin spoke first, her expression tight with urgency.

“Lord Levi. My father—” She caught herself, clearing her throat awkwardly. “Cough. Tohsaka Tokiomi sent me. Ryougi Shiki has been successfully retrieved. He asks how soon you can come to inspect her condition.”

Levi frowned. “She’s still unconscious?”

“Yes.”

Setting the strategic meeting aside, Levi immediately departed with Rin to check on the Ryougi heir.

When they arrived at the Tohsaka estate, Ryougi Shiki was lying motionless on a guest bed. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow, showing absolutely no signs of waking. According to Tokiomi’s reports, she had been trapped in this comatose state for years following a fatal accident. If the Ryougi family hadn’t poured vast amounts of magical energy into sustaining her physical body, she would have withered away long ago.

She originally possessed a dual personality. The male persona, Ryougi Ori, had died in the accident. The female persona, Ryougi Shiki, had survived—but her mind was lost.

Levi leaned over the bed, his magical senses sweeping over her dormant form. Finding nothing physically wrong, he turned his head and spoke to the empty air beside him. “Do you know what’s going on with her?”

The space rippled. Ophis’s flat, emotionless voice echoed into the room before she even fully materialized. “She has a thread connecting to that place you call the Root. Her consciousness is still sleeping over there. It hasn’t come back.”

Levi straightened up. “So, if I use the method you taught me and pull her consciousness back from the Root, she’ll wake up?”

Ophis crawled out of the spatial gap, her gothic dress settling around her knees. Levi casually stepped aside to give the Ouroboros Dragon room.

“Then you do it,” Levi suggested.

In Levi’s experience, fishing a human consciousness out of the Root was a terrifying, beyond understanding feat that only Ophis had ever managed to perform on him. Naturally, the Infinite Dragon God was the best candidate for the job.

But Ophis just stood there, staring up at him with unblinking, pitch-black eyes. “What?”

“You do it.”

Ophis raised a small finger, pointing at the comatose girl. “Just like how I guided you, you must guide her consciousness back. I can only pull the raw power from that side. I am not connected to the source, so I cannot go inside. I can only act as an anchor. I cannot wake her up.”

Levi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “The problem is, I don’t actually know how to do that.”

Even now, the memory of Ophis guiding the power of the Root into his body felt like a hazy, abstract dream. He hadn’t fully understood the mechanics of it back then, let alone how to replicate the process on someone else.

Ophis stared at him for a moment longer. Then, she took a step forward, closing the distance between them.

“Lower your head,” she commanded softly.

It was the exact same phrasing she had used the day they first met. Amused, Levi obediently leaned down, lowering his face to her level.

Ophis stood on her tiptoes.

Soft lips pressed against his. Instantly, the physical world vanished. That overwhelming, dizzying sensation of being pulled through the fabric of reality surged up his spine. Levi was violently thrust back onto the ethereal path leading toward the Root.

This time, however, Ophis didn’t just drag him along. She fed him the control, gently guiding his mind, forcing him to memorize the complex metaphysical steps required to sink his own consciousness into the Akashic void.

A moment later, the connection severed. Levi’s eyes snapped open, his mind reeling as he returned to his physical body.

Ophis dropped back down to the soles of her shoes, looking up at him expectantly. “Did you learn it?”

Levi blinked, processing the lingering phantom sensation on his lips and the absolute mind-bending complexity of the magic she had just shoved into his brain. A slow, cheeky smirk spread across his face.

“Honestly? I still don’t quite get it.” He leaned back down. “Let’s do it one more time.”